Unfamiliar Family
by Hollyflash
Summary: After a reporter mishears something said by Danny Phantom, Danny attempts to set the record straight. Vlad, on the other hand, seems to be having a little too much fun with it. After all, it's not his fault that his name can be misheard as "Dad."
1. Chapter 1: Dlad Plasmius?

For the record, this is not the incredibly long fanfiction I was talking about at the end of Spiral, this is just the result of the fact that I swear all the names are interchangeable in all of my plots.

On another note, hello everyone! I'm known as Hollyflash, or the Girl Who Keeps Forgetting How to Do Authors Notes And Keeps Looking Back At Her Other Stories in An Attempt to Remember How But Never Does So She Just Makes Up A New Format, whichever you prefer.

Personally I'd go with the first but that's just because I'm lazy.

Anyways, Unfamiliar Family (Title courtesy of kasena-alana on Tumblr) is the result of… Wait, I have no excuse for this. Basically I got stuck on the summery and Tumblr told me to do it when I posted a summery for the first few chapters. That's about it.

So, I'm going to attempt to end this note before it gets long with a couple of points. The first one is that this completely disowns Phantom Planet because we need Vlad, and we're going to say that he was slightly less crazy in season three then he actually was so that he still wants Danny as a son/evil apprentice. This is a couple weeks after D-Stabilized, and I have absolutely no clue why Edward Scrufarian is in this chapter.

Universal disclaimer that should be obvious because this is a fanfiction yet I'm doing it anyway; I don't own Danny Phantom and if I did the series would've gone pretty dark pretty fast.

And now, onwards!

* * *

**Chapter 1;**

It was a relatively normal day in Amity Park. The birds were singing, the sun was shining, Danny Phantom and another ghost known as Vlad Plasmius were attempting to beat the crap out of each other while the news reporter Lance Thunder and his camera man attempted to get live footage of the fight from below for the evening news and not get caught in the crossfire.

Yep, normal.

Lance Thunder, finding a spot in a clump of trees where he'd be able to have his camera man film the fight- and more than likely not get shot at- smiled to himself. The public loved anything Danny Phantom, and footage of his fights would be sure to bump up the ratings. And better ratings meant a better paycheck.

Now he just had to hope that the other ghost wouldn't be thrown into where they were stationed. That had happened to him before, and Lance Thunder was not the type of guy who liked getting ghosts thrown at him.

His camera man, David, gave him the countdown until they'd go live, Lance did his introductions, and then they zoomed in on the fight going on above the city. The two ghosts were exchanging their pink and green ghost rays, _were those what they were called? Uncreative terminology, if I do say so myself._

A blast from the other ghost managed to knock Phantom to the ground, and Lance flinched slightly as the ghost landed a little ways away from him. He couldn't be more than a few yards away, and Lance made a motion for his camera man to zoom in on the young ghost. The two of them watched Phantom stand up with one hand on his side, though his back was to them so they couldn't see his face. The other ghost landed in front of Phantom, and looked over at the two men behind the trees. He gave them a fanged smile that caused Lance's face to pale before placing his hands on Phantom's shoulders.

"You know, dear boy, if you'd just agree to let me train you-" The ghost's speech was cut off as Phantom shot a blast at the ghost's midsection.

"Hands off, Dlad!" Phantom shouted, floating into the air and covering his hands with the green energy. _Dlad? What on earth is a Dlad? Maybe it was a slip of the tongue? _"There is no way I'd ever do that, especially with all your stupid evil plans!" _What could he have meant to say? Dlad... A name? No, that can't be right; I've heard him refer to that ghost as Plasmius. Never Dlad, maybe that's another name for the ghost? Or the strange nonsense I've heard him slip into before while talking to other ghosts? No, this is new, I've never heard it before and I'm on scene for nearly every- wait. Dlad. Dad. Dlad, Dad. Dad, Dlad. He didn't misspeak- I misheard!_

"Danny Phantom just called that ghost _Dad._" Lance muttered, watching Phantom and his Dad fly off into the air, still firing blasts at each other. David turned himself and the camera towards Lance, a confused expression on his face.

"What?" He asked, and Lance stared straight into the camera.

"Danny Phantom just called that ghost _Dad."_ Lance spoke slowly, "That ghost is Danny Phantom's _Dad; _his _father._ Phantom was fighting his parent!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

Jack and Maddie Fenton had been watching the live news broadcast with their daughter, who had refused to let them go after the ghosts. According to her, that was what had been pushing their son away from them. Though Jack couldn't see how keeping his town safe from those ectoplasmic manifestations would harm his relationship with his son, but still, Danny was growing apart from him and Maddie... Granted, he had always been closer to Maddie, but still...

Though, what he had just witnessed on the news was the most infuriating father-son relationship he'd ever seen. He had seen this ghost try to kidnap Phantom or have others do it for him, beat him with ectoplasmic blasts, and do things that all around weren't fatherly. Why, if they had been human, Jack would've considered hitting the other ghost with the Fenton RV.

But they weren't, they were ghosts. And it was physically impossible for ghosts to feel enough emotion to form family bonds. They could feel hate, rage, and any sort of malicious intent. By that logic they could very well be family by birthright- or would it be death right? -but neither would feel to bond of family.

Jack look over to his wife, who looked thoughtful, to his daughter, who looked horrified.

Fans of Phantom would be going crazy with this soon, and Jack knew he'd have to set the record straight before then; ghosts couldn't form the emotional bonds to have families. They weren't able stay attached to the families they had in life, or the ones that joined them in death.

It wasn't scientifically possible, all evidence pointed against it.

"Maddie, where's the phone? I'd like to give the news station a call about Phantom's... Dad."

Jazz looked even more horrified as Maddie produced the phone from a table, "Don't take too long, dear. Just let them know that ghosts are unable to have family bonds and move on."

Jack nodded, and Jazz stood up. She hurried up the stairs, calling something back about being in her room.

_She thinks of Phantom as a hero. Finding out he has a family must be big news for her. _With a sigh, Jack reminded himself to go talk to her about this later. It looked like she needed more convincing that all ghosts were evil, no matter what show Phantom seemed to put on. In the end he'd be nothing but another evil specter.

Pushing the thought to the back of his mind for the time, Jack stood up and made his way into the kitchen. From on the fridge, he pulled off a list of numbers and ran his finger down the list until he found one for Amity Park News. It had been released a few years ago, so that citizens of Amity Park could call in with their opinions about a news story or let the reporters know if there was a news story they should be looking into. There were several rings before somebody picked up, their voice sounding annoyed.

Jack made his voice loud and cheery, "Hi! This is Jack Fenton of Fenton Works, calling to remind everyone that ghosts..."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Valerie nearly dropped her TV dinner out of her lap as she stared at the screen. Vlad Plasmius, also known as Vlad Masters, being Phantom's dad?

_It isn't possible. It can't be! Mr. Masters is human and ghost and Phantom's just a ghost! No, it can't be possible. No. No, no, no, no!_

"Valerie?" Her father asked, reaching over and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Valerie forced a smile, "Fine, Daddy. Why do you ask?"

Damon Gray raised an eyebrow at his daughter, "Val, I know you want to be out there hunting those ghosts, but you know how I-"

Valerie's eyes went wide and she shook her head, "Oh, Daddy! No, it isn't about that." She frowned, "It's just... Phantom's a ghost, and that other one... He's not quite a ghost. They can't be parent and child, because that would mean Phantom's like him too. And he isn't." _I hope- no. He isn't. He can't be._ "I'd know if he was. Besides, the other ghost doesn't have a kid, much less a son." _He doesn't, he can't, and I'd know if he did._

"If you're sure..." Damon shrugged, and after a few quiet moments spoke up again. "For the record, you're still grounded from ghost hunting and are not allowed to go ask them about it."

Valerie frowned, "But Daddy-!"

"Don't 'but Daddy' me Valerie," Damon replied, "We agreed that I wouldn't tell the Fentons about a ghost hunter they can 'train' as long as you obeyed household rules. Staying out all night hunting ghosts instead of being home for dinner is not part of the household rules. You can ask them in two days when you're done being grounded, do you understand me?"

Valerie gave the news broadcast, which was now showing a confused anchor lady, a short glance before sighing. _...If I left now I might still be able to catch him... But..._ "Yes, Daddy."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Edward Scrufarian, Janitor at Casper High, watched the news broadcast with one eyebrow raised above its partner. When had the news become so ghost focused and less so focused on actual news?

Though he had to admit, this was rather odd news broadcast. Though to him it had sounded more like Phantom had placed an 'L' in the word 'Dad'. The students would definitely be talking about this tomorrow.

Nonetheless, he reached over and picked up the tea cup he had set on the table beside him. "Well, this is an interesting turn of events." A small smile appeared on his face as he took a sip from the cup.

.-.-.-.-.-.

It was ten-thirty at night when Danny got home, and he was exhausted. From a little after school ended until then, he had been hunting ghosts with Sam and Tucker.

There had been Technus, the Box Ghost, a herd of cow ghosts who apparently hated the color white, Vlad, at least fifteen more animal ghosts, like twenty ectoplasm blobs with faces that wouldn't have been so hard to catch if it wasn't for the fact that they could morph around whatever was coming at them, and Danny was at least ninety percent sure Amorpho was back to troll around. Well, either him or Desiree, but either way it couldn't be good.

Though Technus had been the worst for Tucker- the ghost had stolen and drained every piece of technology from his friend- Vlad had been the worst for Danny. The Fruit Loop just couldn't seem to get it through his head that no, Danny would not be his evil little apprentice. Or son. Or... Whatever else he wanted. Danny didn't have a clue what was wrong with the man's head.

Combined with the fact he had gone ghost hunting last night and had been running on minimal sleep all of that day, is it any wonder that when Danny finally did finally get home, he all but completely ignored his sister's frantic pleas to talk to him, thus never heard what the rest of Amity Park had heard and just fell asleep the first chance he got?

.-.-.-.-.-.

It wasn't much later when Sam stared at her computer, a yawning video of Tucker on her screen. "Darn it! He's still not online!"

"It's eleven o'clock at night, Sam." Tucker replied, "We just spent god knows how long ghost hunting and Danny was about ready to fall asleep on his feet. I'm only online because of _that... _And I have no clue why you are."

"Because I'm a creature of the night, we covered this. Plus I wasn't doing that much of the fighting tonight." Sam replied, and clicked over to the link of the Amity Park news website that her friend had sent her. "Stupid Technus! If he hadn't messed up your PDAs we would've known about this before!"

"Don't rub it in!" Tucker groaned, "Five PDAs, gone, dead, thanks to one gho-!" He was cut off by his yawn, and Sam rolled her eyes.

"Go to bed before you fall asleep at your computer. We'll just find Danny and tell him tomorrow." She sighed, "Or maybe he'll know. Probably not, but maybe. Goodnight."

Tucker gave a small wave before his camera turned off, the icon beside his name on Sam's screen switching from green to red.

After a moment, Sam closed her computer. How had Danny messed up that badly? How had Danny called his worst enemy _Dad? _

_I hope Vlad doesn't find out about this..._

.-.-.-.-.-.

Vlad Masters couldn't believe his luck.

For at least the hundredth time, he replayed the lines of audio from Amity Park's evening news.

"_Hands off, Dlad! There's no way I'd ever do that, especially with all your evil plans!"_

"_..."_

"_...Danny Phantom just called that ghost _Dad_."_

"_What?"_

"_Danny Phantom just called that ghost _Dad_. That ghost is Danny Phantom's _Dad_; his _father_. Phantom was fighting his parent!"_

Vlad had never, not in a million years, expected he'd be able to get everything he wanted from the younger hybrid just because Daniel said his name wrong.

But then again, why look a gift horse in the mouth? _If I play my cards right and oh how I will, Daniel will be by my side and Maddie will come right after..._

_Oh, this'll be perfect! It just needs a little planning... And the fact that Jack Fenton seems to be trying to convince everyone that ghosts can't feel enough to have families... This can only get better. _

Vlad let out a small laugh, "Oh Daniel, your little mistakes do amuse me. Soon, I'll be able to bring you and your dear mother to my side; and Jasmine if it so pleases you. All because you said my name with a 'D' instead of a 'V'."

* * *

Everything is going wrong because Danny pronounced Vlad's name with a 'D' instead of a 'V'.

/Slow clap/ Danny you fail. Well, at least it wasn't some pushing a button and Tucker having to pee this time!

…I'm going to stop with the references for now.

So, now a few things to point out and mention. First of all, I am still accepting filler plot points for this! I have the basic layout and some other moments, but any interesting filler moments you people have may be accepted! And yes, we do get Danielle in here later on so if you have any bonding moment suggestions (_Sibling-esque_ Bonding, not Father/Daughter. Unless you want the Father/Daughter bonding to be between her and Vlad for some... Odd reason.) feel free to suggest them!

Secondly, I have no work ethic. Literally, I'm pretty sure it's non-existent. My updates may be fast or slow, I honestly don't know but they will probably be very irregular.

Thirdly, do you people want lines as a preview to the next chapter like I did with Spiral? Basically I take a couple lines from the next chapter and place them at the end of the current chapter. Meaning I have to write a chapter ahead of the one you people currently see. Would you like me to do that again with this story?

Fourthly, I post stuff about this on Tumblr under the tag of 'Dad Plasmius', in case you wanted to know for some odd reason.

Fifthly, follows, favorites, reviews and such are all nice and loved. But if any of those reviews are flames (which I actually don't think I've ever gotten…) they will be sold to the circus for cash. I will not be responsible for what those flames are used for, be it juggling or arson.


	2. Chapter 2: Damage Control

/Enter fandom specific swear here/

17 reviews, 19 favorites, 38 followers for _Danny saying Vlad's name wrong?!_

People! That's just… Holy crap I want to hug all of you! I never expected that much attention! Never, and the amount I got… Thank you all! If this keeps up throughout the story, I'm probably going to explode from the amount of people that like my things!

Anyways, I'm… I'm sorry about this chapter. It kind of sucks. Certain events happened that made it a little difficult to write humor, so after the first part it kind of goes downhill and the Valerie scene is horrible… Though that may have to do with the fact that I was writing it at three in the morning… Yeah. I'm sorry.

On the bright side, Danny's reaction to finding out what he's said amuses me.

Onwards!

* * *

**Chapter 2;**

Danny Fenton was having a good day.

He had managed to have a full night's rest, his sister hadn't bugged him about brushing her off the night before and instead was mostly just giving him this odd look, his parents hadn't blown any of their inventions up in his face this morning, and he had actually managed to get to school a little early. With no ghost attacks, either!

Now Danny found himself standing at his locker, waiting for his friends with a huge smile on his face. He could see them now, frantically running towards him...

Wait, what?

"Danny, you fail!" Sam called, stopping in front of him and crossing her arms. "You've made some pretty stupid mistakes, but this- this takes the cake!"

Danny blinked twice, "Wait, what?"

Tucker reached into his pocket and pulled out a PDA with a sigh, "Of course you don't know." He pressed a few buttons on his PDA and rolled his eyes and he held it out to Danny. "You know, I'm going to agree with Sam on this one. Dude, you fail. You fail really badly."

Danny raised an eyebrow as he took the PDA from his friend, "Okay?" Danny cleared his throat and began to read off of the screen, which just had some text. "Yesterday at approximately six-thirty in the evening, Amity Park breathed a... Collective gasp of surprise?" He paused to look up and give his friends a confused look. They motioned for him to keep reading, and Danny shrugged before doing just that. "As it turns out, our ghostly super hero, Danny Phantom, has a... Family? Wait, what?"

"Oh, it gets worse." Sam spoke up, "It gets a lot worse. Mostly because you fail."

Danny frowned, but kept reading. "Or at least a... Father? Okay... Uh, yesterday, while filming a fight between Phantom and another ghost who sources report is named Plasmius, Lance Thunder heard Phantom refer to the ghost as-" And just like that, Danny's day went from good to horrible. The PDA fell from his hands, clattering to the floor. "I did _what?!_"

"No!" Tucker called, falling to his knees and gathering up his now cracked and partly broken tech. "Danny, you killed Paulina!"

"If only," Sam sighed, than raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you named the PDA after Paulina?"

Tucker pulled his legs close to him to offer some protection for the soft fleshy parts of his body from Sam's combat boots. "...Maybe."

"I did _what?!_" Danny called again, placing his hands on the sides of his head. "Oh crud, crud, crap... This is bad, this is bad..."

"...I think you just partly swore." Tucker muttered, standing up and placing a hand on Danny's shoulder as his friend began to beg his head against his locker door. "Okay... Danny, relax. It could be worse."

"Really, how?" Danny muttered, pausing his head banging for a moment before continuing it.

"Uh..." Sam shrugged, "Vlad could know?"

There was a beep, and Tucker took his hand off of Danny's shoulder and used it to pull a PDA from his pocket. "Too late. There's going to be a town meeting tomorrow morning to talk about it." He placed a hand between Danny's head and the locker. "Shall we attend?"

Danny, who was now resting his head on his friend's hand, gave Tucker a side glance. "That sounded really formal. But good idea." He frowned, "Great, this must've been why Jazz was giving me the evil eye this morning. I _knew _I shouldn't have brushed her off last night!"

"As long as you don't fail again, we can probably have you do damage control." Sam spoke up uncrossing her arms as the bell rang signaling the start of their first class. "Who knows? Maybe Vlad will actually be truthful for once in his life. Come on, let's get to class. Hopefully nobody was watching the news last night."

"She jinxed it, not me!" Tucker announced, and the three of them headed off towards their first class.

.-.-.-.-.-.

By lunch Danny was strongly considering banging his head on the locker once again from the amount of times he'd been reminded of his mistake.

"Dude, who knew you were so popular?" Tucker spoke up as the three of them sat down at their usual table with trays of cafeteria food, Danny and Tucker on one side and Sam on the other. "I just saw like ten girls all wearing shirts with your symbol that said 'I support Danny Phantom's father'."

"Technically it's my symbol," Sam muttered, "I designed it and should be getting royalties."

Tucker raised an eyebrow, "But you're already loaded. Why would you need more money?"

"I'm going to go do damage control," Danny suddenly changed the topic, and both his friend were silent for a moment before shrugging.

"Don't fail again and try to come back before lunch ends," Sam replied.

"Can I eat your food?" Tucker asked, and Danny glared at his friend for a few moments before pushing his tray towards him.

"You're going to owe me some at the Nasty Burger after today."

"Works for me!" Tucker cheered, causing Sam to roll her eyes.

"Be careful, okay?" She spoke up, and Danny gave a short nod before standing up and moving quickly out of the room. As he left, he heard his friends say, "He's going to get beat up, isn't he?"

"Probably. ...Oh, gross! _Carrots!_"

Ducking into the men's room and into a stall, Danny ducked down to check if there were any other people in the other stalls- there weren't- before allowing a small smile. "Goin' ghost!"

From his midsection, a white halo of light appeared. It split into two, one traveling up and the other down. Black and white hazmat replaced his jeans and t-shirt. Inky black hair became snow white and glowing green eyes replaced his usual cool blue. Within seconds, Danny Fenton was gone and in his place was Danny Phantom.

Turning intangible and invisible, he shot through the roof and out of the school. He returned to visibility and tangibility, stopping in the air and looking around.

"Okay, either I can go find Vlad, or the news guy, or Paulina and trust her to spread the gossip... Well, this sucks. Which one..." Danny's aloud musing was cut off as something wrapped around his ankle, pulling him to the ground. He pushed himself up, letting out a cry of surprise as a blast hit his chest. He was pushed back, hitting his head on a tree. He sat, dazed, for a few seconds before he felt his wrists being pulled back. His eyes widened and he looked over to see that his wrists were being bound behind the tree by a pink ectoplasmic rope.

_This day just keeps getting better and better._

Looking up, he saw Valerie standing a little ways away in her normal clothes, one ghost weapon in each hand.

"Uh, hi Val," Danny called, "How's it going? ...Why aren't you in your suit?"

"That's none of your business!" Valerie replied, lowering her weapons and advancing towards Danny. "We need to talk about your _father,_ ghost!"

Danny groaned, "Okay, first of all he isn't. The news guy heard wrong when I said Vlad. Second, I thought we had a truce! You know, considering the fact that you haven't been trying to shoot me recently."

"I've been busy," Valerie replied, stopping a little ways away from Danny. "Now, how does it work?! How can you be _Masters'_ kid?!"

"For the last time, I'm not-" Danny stopped, his eyes growing wide, "Did you just say _Masters_?! As in, you _know?!_"

Valerie crossed her arms, "Yes, I do. And as much as I was surprised before, I got over it. But how does it work? How are your cousin and your father both human and ghost, unless... You are too?"

"I- I'm not!" Danny shook his head, "I'm a ghost, okay? No human, not at all. Nope, all ghost for me!"

Valerie raised an eyebrow, a blank look on her face. "Right. I'm on to you, Phantom, and I will figure it out."

"There's nothing to figure out!" Danny objected, clenching his fists. "Oh, except for the fact that I'd never be Plasmius' kid. Never, the guy's a Fruit Loop."

"...Fruit Loop? Really?" Valerie rolled her eyes, "Okay then. If he isn't your father, what is he?"

"A Fruit Loop who wants me as his evil apprentice. I said no, but he just won't quit." Danny replied, shrugging. _Okay Fenton, so she knows about Vlad and Danielle. Just guide the conversation away from your secret and towards how she found out... _"How'd you figure out he was a Halfa?"

"Halfa?" Valerie uncrossed her arms, letting them fall to her sides. "That is the stupidest name I've ever heard, and I know two ghost-things named Danny Phantom."

"Hey!"

"Well, it's true. You're ghosts with the last name Phantom, you and your cousin." She shrugged again, "I saw him transform. Why do you care?"

"Well, someone has to. Okay, so he doesn't know you know?" Valerie gave a slow nod, which Danny copied. "Good. It won't go well if he does; he can ruin your life. Trust me, he can do that."

There were a few quiet moments before Valerie asked, "So if you aren't his son, then why'd you call him Dad?"

"I didn't!" Danny groaned yet again, "I went to call him Vlad, next thing I know my enemy is apparently my parent, even though I'd never agree to that in million years, but nobody cares about that or the fact that he's a horrible person!"

"Logic is not something your mislead fangirls have. They just took that as evidence that you'll be able to have their babies." Valerie replied, taking a step back. Danny shrugged, making a bit of a face, and then Valerie turned and started back towards the school.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I told my friends I'd be only gone five minutes," Valerie shrugged and kept walking, "So I'm going back to them."

Danny's eyes went wide, "And you're just going to leave me here?!"

"I'd apologize, but I'm not sorry."

"Val, please! This isn't funny!"

"Maybe your dog will rescue you, or your father. Maybe your mother, wherever she is. "

"Neither are mine! And Plasmius will always be single; my mom would never go to him for any reason!"

"Ah, a single father. Your stupid fangirls will love that!"

"He's not my father, Valerie! No matter what he says, we aren't related!"

Valerie's only reply was a wave of her hand before she turned, walking past a corner of the school towards the outside tables and out of sight.

"Val!" Danny called again, struggling against whatever held him to the tree. "Valerie, this isn't funny! Come on! Val? Valerie!" He slouched, biting his bottom lip. "Okay, today sucks. Today sucks a lot."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Clockwork stared at the Timeline in front of him, one eyebrow raised. At first he had found funny, Daniel had made a mistake and now Amity Park was thinking that his ghost side was Vladimir's son. It was all rather amusing.

Until he realized that it was an oddly-timed coincidence.

Powers above, Clockwork _hated _oddly timed coincidences.

Though, he did have a good reason. In one Timeline he had been in charge of, nearly fifty people ended up dead and eight billion more stood a chance to die because of two little things with nothing in common other than the fact that they were oddly timed _coincidences._

He hated them, he hated them a lot.

So the Time Master floated, putting all his energy into this Timeline. The others would be fine, they could survive without him. And besides, if worst came to worst he could always send a duplicate to look after the others.

But for now, he'd be focusing on this Timeline. And if there was one more oddly timed coincidence he'd intervene, regardless of what the Observants would say.

He was not going to let what happened before happen again, not if he had could stop it.

Behind him there was the sound of a falling object, and Clockwork turned on reflex to see a thermos rolling towards him.

_...Seriously? A thermos? Is it going to be one of those Timelines?_

Clockwork didn't question why the thermos had fallen- nor did he really care at the moment- he just waved a hand and used telekinesis to place it on a small table.

He'd put it away later. Right now, he had to make sure nobody died.

...And perhaps find a way to get Daniel unstuck from the tree he was currently tied to. That might help.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Eventually, Danny did manage to get himself untied from the tree. However, any hope of doing the damage control he had planned would have to be saved for after school unless he was going to skip class. And he only did that when there was a ghost attack.

After school, Danny, Sam, Tucker and Jazz all sat in a booth at the Nasty Burger, Danny enjoying the food Tucker owed him and all four of them attempting to figure out the easiest plan to convince Amity Park that Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius were not related.

"Well, I can't just tell everyone, they won't believe me." Danny pointed out a flaw in the current proposed plan. "Valerie didn't."

"It's a little weird that she wasn't in her suit," Tucker mumbled, stroking an imaginary beard.

"And weirder still that she figured out about Vlad yet we're only figuring out she knew now. You'd think she would've had a crisis or something and gone to Danny for an explanation." Sam mused, "Danny, didn't you say that you haven't seen her hunting recently?"

"Yeah," Danny muttered, "It's weird how she just came back to hunting me now. And she knows about Plasmius..."

"This can't end well." Jazz sighed, giving Danny a side glance. "You know, Danny, if you had just listened to me last night when I tried to tell you we could've come up with a solution by now."

"Jazz," Danny groaned, "Can you stop reminding me about that?! I already-" He was cut off as a wisp of cold air drifted from his mouth. "Finally, I get to hit stuff. I'll be right back. Jazz, make sure they don't eat my food."

Moving out of his chair, Danny all but ran out of the Nasty Burger. Once he was outside, he dove behind a dumpster. He let his ghost form come out in the halos of light, and shot into the air.

After the events of today, he had a _lot _of misplaced aggression. The fact that there hadn't been any ghost attacks, not even the Box Ghost, so far today had allowed his anger at himself for making such a stupid mistake to fester.

"It better not be those stupid cow ghosts again," He muttered, floating on the spot. _Please be something Sam won't get mad at me for hitting, please be something Sam won't get mad at me for hitting, please be..._

"There you are, Whelp!"

An actual smile appeared on Danny's face as he turned to see the robotic hunting ghost. "Skulker! I never thought I'd be happy to see you!"

Skulker frowned, "Normally I'd be delighted that you seem so willing to be skinned."

"Uh, no. Ew. I'm just happy that I get to beat you up."

Skulker shrugged, "A mere technicality. Unfortunately, Plasmius has requested that I restrain myself from doing so and instead do this."

"What the heck does he wa-" Danny cut himself off as he darted to the side to avoid a blast from one of Skulker's weapons, throwing up a shield as yet another came for him. "Well, that was uncalled for!"

"Just let me capture you so I can go hunt something!" Skulker groaned, "I have orders not to kill you!"

"I think that should make me happy," Danny replied, sending a blast of ghostly ice at Skulker which the ghost dodged. "But you know what'll make me feel better? Beating you!" He shot a ghost ray from his fist, knocking Skulker back so that he landed on someone's roof. Danny flew after him, landing calmly on the roof as Skulker floated back to his feet. The two stared at each other for a few seconds as Danny made his way closer to the hunter ghost. "I have a message for Plasmius. Tell him that whatever his plan is, it won't- ah!" Danny cut himself off with a shout of surprise as Skulker suddenly reached out and grabbed Danny's arm, pulling the hybrid closer to him.

"I do have to admit, Plasmius does have good ideas for weapons." Skulker's face was half covered by a smirk. He raised one of gun so that it was level with Danny's face, which now was drained of all colour. "Goodnight."

The gun fired as Danny screamed, feeling an electrical current run through his body.

Danny reverted to his human form as Skulker dropped him and was unconscious before he hit the ground.

* * *

Clockwork does not approve of my story direction, probably because he usually gets screwed over. Do I care? No. Why? Because there is _nothing _more humorous then Danny getting kidnapped by a ghost who wants to kill him but has orders not to.

…I'm not sure if that was sarcasm.

Also, I have no clue why Valerie was making fun of fangirls. Like I said, I was writing that at three in the morning. I don't know what was going through my mind. That also probaly why her scene sucks and as much as I want to change it I just can't make it any better than that.

So… Off of the topic of my very bad writing attempts, and onto the topic of misleading polls and story ideas! I'm still accepting random plot points and will probably be for a long time. Danielle will be appearing in a few chapters, Valerie will be getting very confused soon, Maddie and Jack will guess at something, and Vlad won't exactly be lying! …That makes little to no sense.

Anyway, the misleading poll!

So, there are two ways this story could go; one is rather unpleasant and you'll all possibly hate me if we go with that one even though my best friend wants it. The other is kind of what you'd expect most stories to end with but I have no clue how to do it. I can't decide which one I want, and that's where the misleading poll comes in! I want you people to vote for option A or B, as many times as you want throughout the rest of the story until I call off the misleading poll, but the only catch is that I won't tell you which is which. You have no clue which one you'll be voting for, but you're allowed to vote as much as you want. Thus, it's called a misleading poll.

Enter logic here, probably no one will vote. But if you do, just let me know somewhere whether it's A or B you're voting for. I will count each time you vote, even if it's a spam of one letter.

Anyway, even though I already have a crap load of them, follows, favorites, and reviews will always be loved! But if any of those reviews turn into flames they will be used to fuel my misleading poll.


	3. Chapter 3: Town Meeting (Part1)

In which I'm pretty sure I break Vlad. Also Danny asks the tough question; does his pelt include his clothes?

No seriously, does it? I've been wondering that for months.

Anyways, on a different note; holy crap you people like this! Like seriously, wow! It's just… I can't put it into words how happy I am!

…Though some of that is probably left over from the fact that I got to talk about my Timeline Theory, but that's a mere technicality.

Onwards, to part one of this scene because it's the length of a normal chapter yet the Town Meeting's only half done!

* * *

**Chapter 3;**

The next morning, Jazz opened the door to see Sam and Tucker. "Where's Danny?"

"He isn't here?" Tucker asked, frowning. "But he wasn't at my house or at Sam's... Oh, this can't be good…"

"Then where is he?" Sam muttered, and behind Jazz there was the sound of footsteps. The three of them exchanged a glance before Jazz pushed Sam and Tucker behind a door just as her parents entered the room.

"Are you sure you don't want to come to the town meeting, Jazz?" Maddie asked, and Jazz leaned against the door to make it look like she was holding it open. "You don't have to stay behind."

"I'm sure," Jazz said quickly, "I'm just going to wait here for Danny; he should be back from Tucker's soon!"

"If you're sure..." Maddie trailed off, and Jack placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We'll be back once we convince the town that the putrid protoplasm called Phantom doesn't have emotions to feel family bonds!" Jack called, all but pushing himself and Maddie out of the door. "Weapons are in the lab if you need 'em!"

Jazz waved her parents off before pushing the door closed, raising an eyebrow at the awkwardly close position Sam and Tucker had ended up in. "...I don't want to know. Come on!" She turned and rushed to the lab, Sam and Tucker untangling themselves from each other before following.

Once the trio was in the lab, Jazz turned back to face Sam and Tucker. "Okay, if Danny's not back and none of us know where he went, that's bad. We need to find him. Tucker, do you still have that program on your PDA which filters all web stories about Danny to it?"

"You mean the Phantom Tracker App?" Tucker asked, taking out his PDA. "Yeah, but it's being spammed with stuff about Vlad and weird fanfictions so I turned the notifications off."

"Check it," She ordered, and Tucker nodded. "Sam, there's a bunch of weapons on that table over there. I need you to help me find the Boo-merang." Sam nodded, and the two of them made their way over to where the elder Fentons had stashed piles of assorted ghost gear. Both had pocketed a few guns and containment devices by the time Sam noticed where the Boo-merang was, but any even slight happiness at finding it was destroyed as Tucker whispered a cuss.

"Who'd you kill?" Sam asked, and Jazz tried her best to push the word from her mind. Her and her brother had been taught from a young age not to cuss, and for the life of her Jazz couldn't think of a valid reason why other parents hadn't taught their children the same thing.

"It was Skulker," Tucker muttered, "The last ghost Danny fought before disappearing on us was _Skulker_..."

Jazz's eyes went wide, "That's... That's the ghost who wants to skin Danny, right? Ghost X?"

There were numb nods from Sam and Tucker, and Jazz started to hyperventilate. "Tucker, do you know where Danny keeps his map of the Ghost Zone?" She didn't wait for an answer, "Go find it. Sam, we need the keys to the Specter Speeder and we need them _now. _We need to get Danny back."

Both of the younger teens nodded, and with the weapons and other devices they had grabbed from the table in hand, rushed upstairs.

_Danny is fine. He has to be, there's no way he can't be..._

Never once did it cross her mind that the ghost who would more than likely have her brother had an allegiance with the hybrid that had every reason to want Danny out of the way for the time.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny awoke in his human form in an oversized bird cage hanging above a pit of fire.

_...Okay, that's probably one of the worst things I've woken up to._

He stood up slowly- it wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do as his side was still sore from whatever Skulker had shot him with- and took in his surroundings.

He was in what was literally and oversized birdcage, with what appeared to be some sort of anti-phase coating. Just to be sure, he reached out and placed a hand on it. _Yep, phase-proof. Darn it._

Not that Danny currently had any plans to phase through the bars, he couldn't see a way out that wasn't covered in fire and he didn't think he was in danger...

Okay, he knew he was in a lot of danger and could very likely be killed. But he was going to pretend he was perfectly fine, because after all, optimism is what got him through all of the problems his life threw at him.

"Oh, I was wondering when you would wake up. I trust you're comfortable?"

_Skulker. _Danny turned slowly, trying to see where the hunter ghost was, but to no avail. "Oh, just fine. It's so much fun to be stuck in a... I'm pretty sure this is a birdcage? Oh yes, and let's not forget the deadly pit of fire right below me for no good reason. Wonderful touch." _I'm dead. He's going to skin me and I'm going to die... No. Stay positive, Fenton. You'll get out of this, you always do._

"I'm glad you like it, as it will be your new home for the time being. Sadly, Plasmius does not want me to skin you and just wants you to sit tight until his town meeting is over."

_The meeting! Plasmius, you're going to pay for this! _"So... I just sit in a birdcage above the fire pit until Plasmius decides that I can come home? Wow, that's unfair. Do I get food?"

"...He never said I had to feed you."

"And it got worse," Danny frowned, "What about bathroom breaks?"

"...Drat, I forgot about those."

With a groan, Danny lowered himself to the ground. This was just getting worse and worse, even without the fact that Vlad was probably spreading lies about him.

_But Skulker's not allowed to skin me... That's a bonus..._

_Wait, Skulker's not allowed to skin me. He's not allowed to skin me! Ha!_

A smirk made its way onto Danny's face, "Hey, Skulker, I have a question."

"No."

"It's not a yes or no question." Danny was silent for a few moments, but Skulker didn't reply. "Anyway, all those times you've said you wanted my pelt, what do you mean by that? My human side or my ghost side's? And does it include my clothes, or just my bare skin? Because technically, my clothes aren't part of my pelt, but I don't think having a nude kid rug would be good for your social life. So in what form do you want my pelt and does it include my clothes?"

Skulker was silent for a few long moments before replying with, "I knew I should've installed a mute button."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Valerie Gray stood beside her father with her arms crossed, staring up at Vlad Masters as he started talking about this 'interesting new development with the town hero'.

"...Are there any theories, besides the Fentons', about how this would logically work?"

At his question, the entire gathered crowd erupted into a mess of voices. Valerie placed her hands over her ears, and a little ways away she saw a small group of freshman students in 'I support Danny Phantom's father' t-shirts clamp their hands over the mouth of one of their female members. Valerie was thankful for that; she had heard the girl scream at pep rally once, everyone in the room had cowered from how ear-piercing it was. Danny Fenton's ears had even been bleeding! Plus, Valerie had heard her yell at her class to quiet down on more than one occasion. Some of those when she was half-way across the school.

"Quiet, please!" Vlad called, and when nobody did so, "One at a time!"

_This is not a school, Masters, _Valerie thought, _that isn't going to work._

However, the crowd went quiet as an echoing voice called out, "Maybe I can help." And behind Vlad Masters, his ghost side appeared.

"GHOST!" Jack Fenton bellowed, and the crowd parted for him and his wife as they both pulled weapons from somewhere on their jumpsuits. Valerie wasn't sure she wanted to know where.

"Daddy-" Valerie started, and her father shook his head.

"No. We already went through this; one more week for using your weapons at school when there wasn't a dire need."

Valerie slouched in reply, giving Vlad a death glare as he stepped between his ghost side and the Fentons.

"Wait!" He called, "This way we'll be able to get our questions answered! Jack, Maddie... Put the guns down."

"But Vladdie..." Jack whined, and both Vlads crossed their arms and the human one appeared to roll his eyes. Valerie couldn't be sure; she wasn't that close to them.

Maddie said something to Jack, made a motion to Vlad that looked a lot like 'I'm watching you', and the crowd moved back in front of them.

Vlad cleared his throat before turning to his ghost side, "Ahem, my apologies, Mister...?"

"Plasmius, Vlad Plasmius."

Valerie was strongly considering getting that freshman girl to scream at her loudest when Vlad's human and ghost sides shook hands.

"Vladimir Masters, but I'm sure you knew that."

"Ah, yes. You are quite a marvelous human, if I do say so myself. Gaining so much and such a short amount of time... There are ghosts who fear what will happen if you become one of us."

Valerie rolled her eyes and slouched, _this is getting ridiculous. This is talking to yourself gone way too far._

"Ahem, anyways," Masters cleared his throat and motioned to the crowd. "I'm going to ask the question that I'm sure we've all been wondering, is Daniel Phantom really your son?"

Plasmius was silent for a few moments before replying with, "No, the boy misspoke. I am not his birth father-"

"_WHAT?!_" Valerie's shout probably could've rivaled that freshman girl's in terms of how loud it was. _Phantom wasn't lying? Wait, what's going on here?! How the heck does this make any sense?!_

"-I'm his Godfather," Plasmius continued as if he hadn't heard Valerie's shout, "And I've been looking after the boy since his untimely death."

And with that, the crowd all but exploded into a mass of voices all trying to figure out what the heck was going on.

"Quiet, please!" Plasmius called, "I did not come to this meeting to confuse you all with how I am with my godson, but to answer your questions about him! I put a lot on the line to do so, because I believe there are some things you deserve to know!"

Valerie narrowed her eyes and whispered, "I call bull crap."

"If you aren't his father," Valerie heard her friend Star call out, "Then who is?"

Plasmius smiled, "My dear, I'd tell you if I could. However, I don't think Daniel would approve of it... However, I can tell you that they are alive. In fact, they're in this room right now."

Once again, Valerie screamed, "_WHAT?!_" And once again, she was all but ignored.

"...C-can you tell us what they look like?" The screaming freshman called, and Plasmius shook his head.

"I am sorry, but I cannot... That would give too much away, you'd see. And Daniel is awfully protective of them, as he is with most things he would've had in life. Though I can't understand why for the afterlife of me- his parents hate ghosts."

At that, Valerie began running through her mind everyone she knew who didn't like ghosts. _The Fentons, but it can't be them because the only sibling Danny's ever had is his sister... I wonder why they didn't show up? I know Danny's terrified of ghosts, but his sister is a pretty big Phantom supporter... Oh well, I'll ask him some other time. Okay, so most of the people in the old folks' home, a lot of the teachers, Lance Thunder, Star and Kwan don't really care for them I think... No, wait, just Star because Kwan has Phantom's autograph framed. Also I don't think the janitor likes ghosts. There's me and my dad, but Plasmius is using plurals when he says parents so it's definitely not us... How disturbing would that- yikes. Bad image, really bad image there._

"Do his parents know that Phantom's their son?" Someone- Valerie was pretty sure his name was Alexander Godfrey but she couldn't be sure- called out, and Plasmius shook his head.

"No, they do not. Though Daniel remains adamant that they would accept him, despite their utter hatred of ghosts, if they did. Even with that mindset he still refuses to tell them. It has been the source of many disagreements between us."

"Why have you two been seen fighting so much if you're supposed to look after him?" Jack Fenton suddenly called out, and at once Plasmius seemed more guarded.

"Why do you care, ghost hunter? You seem convinced that we don't even have the ability to feel!" Plasmius was honestly looking rather like he was going to kill someone, as was Masters. "You are convinced by your _research _on _nothing_ that I do not possess the ability to care for Daniel like the son he is to me! How he cares for this town! He fights the other ghosts to keep this little town here safe, and he has lost in the past! Times he hasn't, he's been badly injured! And yes, that can happen, and he can feel pain! If it weren't for his little group of human friends, he'd have become nothing but an empty shell! You want to know why I fight him?! I fight him because he isn't willing to train with me, so I have to trick him into doing so! _That _is why I fight Daniel, unlike you, who doesn't want a thing more to rip him apart like some college science experiment! Does that answer your question?!"

_...Okay then... Wait. Phantom has human friends?_

Plasmius took a deep breath before looking around the crowd, "Now, are there any other questions?"

"Yeah, I got one," Valerie called, "How did Phantom die?"

Plasmius was silent for a moment, "Let's just say that it was the fault of his father and leave it at that."

* * *

See? I broke Vlad with my headcanons about why he fights Danny when he wants him as a son.

Also I've been spending way too much time playing around with background characters, I mean, Alexander Godfrey (as I have called the kid who sat in a urinal in Doctors' Disorders) made an appearance.

Also the screaming freshman. That was not a background character and just the result of my friend claiming someone's loud screams at a pep rally earlier this year almost burst her eardrums. And then I ran with Halfas having advanced senses and the screaming freshman happened.

Yeah. I almost literally just started throwing headcanons into this chapter.

On another note, extra scenes still have a chance of being accepted! Mostly because I have blank spots in my planning coming up. So yeah, extra scenes are good if you people want me to continue with my current update speed. Or I can always start asking my friend for ideas, though they may be filled with dead things… I really should've done more planning before starting this. Oh well.

Now that that's taken care of, time to talk about the misleading poll. It'll be here every chapter, and you people can vote as much as you want, until one of the choices reaches a certain number of votes which I haven't decided yet. However, I don't think I explained it well enough. Basically, A may or may not be the one you'll all hate me for and B may or may not be the one that's expected. You people don't know exactly which is which and are mostly just voting for a letter. Okay?

Yeah, my explanation sucks. Sorry about that.

Anyway, I'm going to end this here! As always, I love follows, favorites, and reviews! But if any of those reviews turn into flames they'll be locked under the birdcage!

...No, I do not know why Skulker put Danny in what seems like a birdcage above a pit of fire.


	4. Chapter 4: Town Meeting (Part 2)

Skulker ragequits Danny, Tucker makes bird puns, Maddie gets suspicious, Danny flips a table, and Danielle appears.

No joke, that's pretty much the chapter.

So, anyways, I managed to get this out before I fall off the face of the earth! I'm going camping either tomorrow or later today for the next week, so don't expect any updates! I won't be able to write the chapters!

In other news; _how._ How exactly did this story manage to get more reviews and follows than my completed one did in only three chapters? Seriously people, this is just… _Wow._

And the final point, go read Tact by TheUnforgiven137! It's a Bitter Reunions AU where Vlad has a little bit of tact while dealing with Danny and doesn't reveal that he wants to kill Jack. Go read it!

Onwards!

* * *

**Chapter 4;**

Tucker considered jumping for joy once the Boo-merang led the three teens in a Specter Speeder towards Skulker's Island, mostly from the fact that it was still working. Which meant Danny was still alive.

But for how much longer was up for debate. This was Skulker, after all. For all he knew his best friend could be being skinned at this very moment.

Tucker shivered, it was not a pleasant thought.

"Do we have a plan?" Sam asked as the island appeared to grow closer.

"Yeah," Jazz replied, "Grab a gun. We're going to rip that ghost apart molecule by molecule if he's even laid a robotic finger on Danny."

"Jazz, no offense, but I don't think you should be let near guns even when you are thinking sanely." Sam muttered, frowning. "Look, how about this; Tucker and me will distract Skulker while you try to find Danny. That work?"

Jazz sighed, "Okay... I'm just; I'm just so worried about him..."

Tucker gave the older a girl a small smile before he was distracted by a beep on the 'Real World Items' radar.

The teen was silent for a moment, "...Is it just me, or does it look like Danny in an oversized birdcage?"

"What?!" Both Sam and Jazz gasped, looking down at it before Jazz let out a squeal of delight.

"He's okay!" She let out a relieved laugh, "Oh, thank god he's okay!"

"And the Boomerang's leading us right to him!" Sam was laughing with relief as well, and Tucker had a smile taking up half his face.

"You forgot the 'Boo' in 'Boo-merang'!" He laughed, not stopping as Sam smacked the back of his head.

They were all just so relieved that Danny was _alive_.

Well, alive as he was before, but nonetheless he was okay.

That alone was enough to let the three of them hug each other with sounds of joy and nearly crash the Specter Speeder into Skulker's Island. They would have, if it wasn't for human items having the ability to pass through stuff in the Ghost Zone. They found themselves in an area with fire below them, and the boomerang was stuck in the bars of what appear to be a birdcage while Danny just stood a little ways away in his human form with a huge smile on his face.

Slowly, Tucker leaned over and opened the door to the Specter Speeder. "Well, I guess you really are _a raven-haired teen._"

Danny rolled his eyes, reaching forward to grab the Boo-merang. "I was so happy to see you guys, but now... Someone smack Tucker for me."

Sam reached over and did just that. "Danny, are you okay?"

"Peachy," Danny deadpanned, "I'm stuck in a phase-proof human-made birdcage-thing, talking to a ghost- who wants to skin me but isn't allowed to by the way- about the definition of my pelt, while Plasmius is probably spreading lies about me and Tucker is making bird puns about my hair color. What a wonderful day to be alive."

"We'll get you out of there Danny, okay?" Jazz called, pulling the Specter Speeder closer, "Just hold on. How were you talking to Skulker?"

"I think he had a camera or something attached to his suit," Danny shrugged, "He was getting annoyed with the lack of a mute button in it and I'm pretty sure he ejected from his suit after I wouldn't stop asking whether or not he wanted me nude or clothed when I was a rug."

Tucker gave Sam a knowing smile as the girl flushed a bright red.

"Okay..." Jazz muttered, and then shook her head. "Don't worry Danny, we'll get you out of there! ...Somehow!"

"Wonderful, give Tucker time to think up more bird puns." Danny sighed, "But thank you guys... I don't know what I'd do without you."

Tucker couldn't resist, "You'd probably get very attached to a mirror or something."

Danny looked confused for a moment before apparently realizing his friend had made another bird joke. "Darn it, Tucker! That was _not _a challenge!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

To say the least, Maddie Fenton was confused.

From what she had gathered from the meeting; Phantom- he would never be Daniel or Danny to her. Danny was her baby boy, not a destructive ghost- had been under the care of Plasmius- there was no way she'd ever refer to this odd ghost by the same name as her college 'friend'- since a little after the ghost had formed; Plasmius was apparently Phantom's godfather; Phantom's parents were alive but didn't know that Phantom was the ghost of their son, and instead harbored a strong hatred of ghosts, while living in Amity Park; Phantom either had a sibling or a relative who he was very close to, living or dead; Phantom had human 'allies'- Maddie had scoffed at that- that acted as his support group; Plasmius blamed Phantom's father for the boy's death- and apparently many other things, if the not at all polite way he talked about the man was any given- though seemed to almost have romantic feelings for his mother; and Plasmius apparently cared- a snort of amusement had been inserted there- enough about Phantom to deal with the boy hating him so that he'd be able to train him. There had been others, but those had been stuck in her mind.

Oh yes, and Plasmius seriously hated her husband but was more than willing to answer any questions Maddie herself asked.

It was rather odd, Maddie had to admit. It honestly seemed like some elaborate ruse that the ghosts had staged. She was very tempted to believe that, and yet...

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Maddie could all but hear the similarities screaming at her. She pushed them away; none of her children were ghosts. She would know, there'd be a motherly instinct or... Something. But none of her children were ghosts. They couldn't be.

She watched as Plasmius answered another question as if it was the easiest thing in the world. _He obviously has experience public speaking. Was it a skill from the life he was created from? Or something he learned in death?_

Maddie rolled her eyes as another person asked for a clue about who Phantom's parents were.

Her eyes widened as Plasmius replied with the middle name of Phantom's father.

"Jack," She muttered, watching her husband's eyes grow wide. "Jack, _no. _There's probably lots of people with that middle name. There is no way it's you."

Jack's reply was to not say a word and slowly nod. Maddie hated seeing him like this, and at once similarities began to connect in her mind once again.

_No._

_We are not the parents of the Ghost Boy._

_We can't be; the godfather of our children is Vlad, and he's alive. He's perfectly fine and alive._

"Are there any other questions?" Plasmius called, and for once everyone attending was silent for a few moments.

Of course, the silence was broken as a blast of green ectoplasm hit Plasmius from the side, knocking him backwards. Phantom flickered into visibility, looking... Well, the simplest way to explain it would be the fact that by the time this was over there was probably going to be a lot more property damage than the ghost normally caused. "Yeah, I've got one; how many lies have you told about me?"

Plasmius stood up where he had been knocked over, calmly dusting off his suit while Vlad took a step back from the fray. "Apparently Skulker should not be allowed to look after children. Actually Daniel, none. I simply told them truths."

Phantom, who had been moving slowly towards Plasmius, suddenly stopped in his tracks. "W-wait, what?! What did you do?!"

"Don't be so concerned, dear boy," Plasmius replied, "I refused to tell them anything about your human life. Other than a few tidbits about your family, that is. Ta!" The ghost disappeared with a _pop! _Phantom, who had been taking steps back with a horrified look on his face, suddenly looked over at Vlad Masters. They exchanged a few words before Phantom flew off, rather quickly, and Vlad ended the meeting.

The distant similarities between her own life and what she knew about Phantom's mother never left her mind, and as she reached her house she paid little attention to her children along with Sam and Tucker setting up a laptop with a recorded version of the meeting at the kitchen table.

She had research to do, and lots of it.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny, who had just finished watching a recorded version of the town meeting he had missed on Amity Park's news website, very calmly closed the laptop and handed it to his sister before also very calmly flipping the table, his eyes glowing a very bright green.

Honestly, the way he had gone in that alternate future- the one where he killed pretty much the entire world- sounded like a pretty good direction right now. Words did not describe how _furious_ he was with Vlad.

It only made it worse that Vlad had pretty much completely stuck to the truth, without revealing that either of them were hybrids. Vlad had also managed to make himself seem like this great person- he was _oh so wonderful _for looking after Danny Phantom, _oh so wonderful _for protecting and training the boy when he didn't want it- while making Danny seem like this fragile child.

"Whoa, easy there with the Hulk smash buddy," Tucker said in reference to the flipped table. "It could be worse."

"Oh, really?!" Danny snapped, "Everyone thinks Phantom is Plasmius' little ghostly godson with a horrible father who killed him! How could it be worse?!"

Tucker shrugged, "I don't know, you could be going with it."

Danny groaned and Sam reached over to smack Tucker, only to be stopped by Jazz. "Wait. That could work."

Danny, Sam, and Tucker all gave Jazz blank stares before Danny simply said, "What?"

"Well, think about it," Jazz shrugged, "Vlad's trying to pressure you to accept him as a father by convincing everyone that you have horrible parents. So why don't you go along with it- and show Amity Park exactly how bad of a Godfather Vlad is. Abusive, manipulative..." She trailed off, and Danny's eyes faded back to blue as a smile twitched its way onto his face.

"...This pleases me." _I can work with this. Vlad wants to make it seem like I should go to him? No, I'll give the town every reason to believe I should be as far away from him as possible._

"Why do I feel like an evil laugh would be appropriate here?" Sam mused, and Danny smirked as he provided one.

"Dude," Tucker spoke up, "Don't do that ever again."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danielle wasn't entirely sure where she was; only that it was a mall. Then again, that was half the fun of traveling. Getting lost was amusing, and sometimes you got food and a warm bed out of it when you met nice people.

Currently she sat at a table across from two teenage girls, eating the ice cream cone they had bought her.

"Are you enjoying it?" The taller of the two, who had said to call her Amy, asked. Danielle gave an eager nod as she licked some more of her cookie dough ice cream from her cone.

"Yum!" She replied, licking her lips. Amy, along with her friend who had introduced herself as Vic, smiled.

"I'm glad," Vic smiled, but it soon faded. "Are you sure you don't want us to help you find your family...? I know how much it sucks to be wandering around by yourself."

Danielle shrugged, _that's the problem with nice people; they're nice. _"I'm sure; my mom lets me roam. I'll just meet up with her when I'm done looking around." Lying had become almost a second nature for Danielle, after being a traveler for so long. Needless to say, both girls bought it and the three of them went back to their ice cream.

Until Vic reached into her pocket, pulled out a smartphone, and got a huge smile on her face. "Sweet! There's a notification with Phantom Tracker!"

Amy leaned over to look at the phone, and Danielle frowned. "What do you mean, 'Phantom Tracker?' What's that?"

"It's an app," Amy explained, "Have you heard of Danny Phantom? It collects things on the internet about him and puts them in an app. Vic's a huge fan of him ever since she found out about him at this convention we went to in San Diego a few years back."

Danielle's face lit up as she nodded. _Wow, Danny has an app! That's so cool! _"Cool! So, is it mostly filled with stuff about ghosts he fights or something?!"

"Actually, it's mostly weird fanfictions," Vic shrugged, "Why people write fiction about famous people is beyond me." She tapped her phone, and then the jaws of both girls dropped.

"He isn't his father?" Amy whispered with her eyes wide.

"Oh, this just got good..." Vic replied, a smile appearing on her face. "Oh, this got really good..."

"What are you talking about?" Danielle asked, and the two teens looked up before Vic leaned back.

"Okay, so on Thursday, Phantom was fighting this ghost and called him dad." The teen explained, and Danielle's jaw dropped. _No way, is Danny's dad a Halfa too?! How?! _"And this morning there was apparently a town meeting where Phantom's dad revealed that he's actually his Godfather, and Phantom showed up at the end and freaked. But holy crap, the ghost, Vlad Plasmius revealed all this-"

"_WHAT?!_" She screeched, jumping to her feet and dropping her ice cream. Both of the teens flinched and gave Danielle a questioning look. "Vlad, he... No. No, no, no, no! Danny, he would never, no...! No, _DANNY!_" Danielle didn't wait to hear the rest, she ran to the first area where she wouldn't be seen and switched to her ghost form. She turned intangible and flew out of the building as fast as she could.

_Danny said Vlad's his father..._

_He'd never do that, no! He'd never..._

_It's Vlad's fault! It has to be! Vlad must've done something to mess with Danny, like blackmail! Or mind control!_

_Danny, don't worry! I'm coming to help- I won't let Vlad keep this up! _

_I promise!_

* * *

The horror! Danielle dropped her ice cream!

…Yes people, that's what I chose to comment on. The ice cream. Also the fact that she is very concerned about Danny. You know what that means? She'll be active in this story relatively soon!

Also, Maddie's part may seem a little off, but there will be a reason for it that will be explained. After Danielle appears, of course, but it will be explained!

Or you could just stalk my planning on Tumblr and take a guess about the reason. Though the explanation will be a better scene without doing that, as it is my favorite...

…I'm not making any sense, am I? Sorry, most of this chapter was written at around 3:00 this morning and I had to get up early plus I haven't really eaten anything today. ^^' Sorry.

Anyway, I have a small chunk of space to fill before Danielle appears; I'm going to say about a chapter and a half. Any suggestions for what should happen between Danny and Vlad? I'll probably write a scene where Team Phantom's at school and reacting to everyone trying to figure out who Danny Phantom's parents are. (And Danny confuses Val- I didn't say anything) But are there any other suggestions of things I can do?

As always, follows, favorites, votes for the misleading poll, and reviews will be loved! But if any of those reviews are flames, they will be…

…

…Note to self; get food before trying to think up jokes…


	5. Chapter 5: Little Things

/Quietly bumps rating up to T/ You saw _nothing. _And if you did, blame LoveWritingStories.

Hey, guys, I'm back! Maddie and Jack's part did not want to be written, but it is now! And I'd like thank you guys for waiting for this chapter and still enjoying my story! I'm sorry I took so long with it, but like I said, Jack and Maddie's part did not want to be written.

And I just realized that the chapter title's kind of ironic.

Anyway, onwards!

* * *

**Chapter 5;**

The rest of the day and most of the next one was mostly filled with ghosts coming to laugh at Danny's odd situation, Danny not taking his ghost form unless there was a ghost attack because of how many of his fans and reporters were looking for him, and the trio of friends putting Tucker's sewing skills to use.

By Monday morning, Danny, Sam, and Tucker all showed up at school wearing black t-shirts with white lettering -aside from the word 'God' which was done in red- reading 'I do not support Danny Phantom's Godfather' which had been made personally by Tucker.

After all, just because Danny _Phantom _was going along with what Vlad had said, didn't mean that Danny _Fenton _and his friends had to.

Of course, there were snags in that plan. Mainly the fact that most of the A-listers had all gotten themselves t-shirts saying 'I support Danny Phantom's Godfather' and they didn't exactly approve of the 'loser trio's' version of the shirts. Tucker and Danny ended up having to hold Sam from mauling Paulina, and Danny found himself thankful for his invisibility as Dash tried to beat on him every chance he got.

Valerie, however, did come over and ask if they could make her one of their shirts. Tucker readily agreed, and though Danny was sure she wanted to talk to him about some other things, Valerie never got a chance to bring it up before they all had to scatter to get to their classes.

The teachers had one heck of a time trying to keep the students focused on their work and not on Danny Phantom. And when the last class of the day came along, which was one that the A-list, Valerie, a collection of nerds and Team Phantom all had together, Mr. Lancer all but ended up letting them have a class discussion about it. After all, it was a current event, and thus it _almost _fit in the curriculum.

Keyword; _almost._

"Now, we are going to attempt to keep this organized for those of you who aren't wearing shirts with your opinions," Mr. Lancer called out, glancing over Danny then Paulina before focusing on the whole class again, "Raise your hand if you support Mr. Plasmius."

Everyone but Danny, Sam, Tucker, Valerie, Star, and two other students named Nolan Manree and Nathan Lester raised their hands.

Mr. Lancer raised an eyebrow for a brief moment before motioning to Dash, "Mr. Baxter, why do you support Mr. Plasmius?"

"Well, I dunno," Dash replied, "But I mean, he's been looking after Danny Phantom and Danny Phantom's been looking out for us, so he's kind of been looking after us. Plus, he was still looking after Danny Phantom even when he didn't want to be looked after and trained him when he didn't want to be trained... He seems like a good guy, I don't get why Danny Phantom doesn't like him."

Danny and Tucker both scoffed, Sam rolled her eyes, and Valerie let out a quiet snort of disbelief before turning her head and giving a trio a confused side glance. She gave a small shrug and started to doodle on the paper in front of her.

Mr. Lancer shot Danny an unamused look, "Thank you, Mr. Baxter. ...Mr. Foley, judging by the shirt you're wearing you do not support him. Why is that?"

Tucker shrugged, "I'm going with Phantom's opinion of it... He obviously doesn't like or support the guy, so why should we? Besides, what do we know about them as _parent _and _child?_" He spat the words as if they actually had a bad taste. "Nothing, other than what Plasmius has said."

"And don't forget that Plasmius didn't really start showing up until after Vlad Masters became mayor, over a year since Phantom first showed up." Sam added on, "He was here for a bit before that, but usually would fight Phantom. They aren't close, and let's not forget the fact that Phantom's a hero. Why would he hate somebody, especially his apparent Godfather, unless they deserved it?"

"In conclusion," Danny spoke up, "Plasmius is not the good guy here; he's a Fruit Loop-" Valerie dropped her pen and turned to give Danny a look crossed between confusion and horror at that, "-And we don't trust him. Phantom has something against the guy, so we should too. Plus, I think Plasmius has a crush on my mom."

Valerie tried to stutter something, but ended up mutely turning back to her paper, her mouth opening and closing in a finless fish impersonation.

The only other person she had ever heard use the term 'Fruit Loop' to refer to Mr. Masters insultingly as was Danny Phantom.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Maddie groaned, leaning forward to rub her temples as she stared at the lab's computer screen. "This isn't going anywhere."

Jack, who stood a little ways behind her doing some repairs on a containment unit, looked up and pulled down his jumpsuit's hood. "You doin' okay, Mads?"

"No," Maddie replied, sighing. "Something isn't right about this. You know it, I know it... Not to mention the fact that the Ghost Kid's always given me chills."

"I know what you mean," Jack added on, "The Wisconsin Ghost, too. They aren't right."

"The Ghost Kid's worse," Maddie muttered, "He looks so much like..." She trailed off, turning back to face Jack, who nodded.

"I know, Maddie, I know. But he can't be," Jack forced his tone to sound convincing, "Besides, neither of our children are ghosts. Especially not-"

"You don't need to spell it out," Maddie cut in, "Jack, please don't."

There was a moment of silence before Jack replied, "I won't." More silence, only broken as Maddie clicked the computer mouse. "...Maddie, you should take a break. You're searching through a database of children who've died or gone missing from here in the last fifty years. Go take a walk. Go to the store, just stop stressing yourself out with this for a while."

"I can't," Maddie shook her head, "I still have at least ten years left of young boys... And it isn't even complete! A lot of them don't have pictures, either... Who in their right mind would make a site like this?"

"Go take a walk!" Jack urged again, "Maddie, don't stress yourself out anymore. I know you want to figure this out, and I do too. But focusing on the past... I'm the one who made the mistake, Maddie. But we need to move on; we have Danny and Jazz now. And the Ghost Kid is neither of them. None of our children are ghosts. I know you're worked up, and I am too- but the ghost's real parents are someone else. You don't need to find what he looked like in life to know proof of that. The Ghost Kid ages. He's... He's close to Danny's age, and Danny is alive. The ghost kid isn't our son." He paused to take a breath, "So, are you going to take that walk?"

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny stared at his friends for a few moments before shaking his head. "...No offense, but that's a really bad idea."

"Told you," Sam added on, giving the third member of the trio a side glare. "Tucker, screwing stuff up is Danny's job, not yours."

"Hey!" The mentioned hybrid burst out, "I don't screw stuff up!" His friends turned to give him 'are-you-serious?' type looks, and Danny added on, "...That often."

The trio currently sat in Tucker's room, attempting to work on their homework and discussing ways to work with the plan for their current situation. They weren't getting very far with either.

"Right," Sam shook her head. "I'm just going to pretend you don't for a moment here because Tucker's being a bigger idiot." She looked over, and Tucker put his hands up.

"Come on, guys, just hear me out!" He said while both Danny and Sam rolled his eyes. "It's simple; Danny goes ghost, calls up his mom, tells her a little cryptic message about truth and lies, and hangs up. Simple, see?"

"Yeah, a simple way to get my parents to figure out my secret!" Danny groaned, "My Mom's been looking through a list of people who've died or gone missing in the last fifty years, guys. And I'm pretty sure she didn't sleep much last night so that she could keep looking at it for any hint of who 'Danny Phantom' is. And my Dad's been working on _I-don't-even-want-to-know_ in case they catch me. Plasmius dropped too many hints already; I don't need to give them any more."

"And besides," Sam added on, "What would leaving a message like that do? Besides confuse Danny's parents and all that, I mean."

Tucker shrugged, "He'd be admitting that Vlad wasn't lying, and implying that there's something else..."

"Yeah, something that I don't want them to find out!" Danny shook his head, "Look, I appreciate that you're trying to help me, but that idea is probably the worst you've ever come up with."

Tucker frowned before shrugging, "It was worth a shot. What'd you guys get for question four?"

The trio attempted to focus on their homework for about five minutes longer before Danny set his textbook aside. Just as he did that, a breath of cold air came from his mouth.

"I swear, if it's Skulker or those cow ghosts again..." The hybrid groaned, and stood up. "Goin' ghost." He switched to his ghost form and was about to fly out the window, but stopped when Sam stood up and stepped in front of him.

"Danny, don't... Get hurt too badly, okay? And don't get taken again."

Danny was caught between groaning at the fact Sam just had to keep reminding him of his misadventure with Skulker a few days before, and being touched by how much she cared. He went with the second. "Don't worry, Sam. I'll be back, I promise."

"Geez, it sounds like you're dying." Tucker looked up as he said that, frowning. "You're not allowed to do that, by the way."

"I don't plan on it," Danny replied, floating up a little off the ground. "Be right back!" With that, he turned intangible and shot through the roof.

_And there's no news crew around... I think... Sweet. ...Whoa, wait a minute. Who's that?_

It was a ghost- but that part was obvious- who looked about four years older than Danny himself. The ghost had hair that was about the same color as Jazz's, only a lot shorter -it was only slightly shorter than Danny's and styled a similar way- and a lot more messy. He wore black jeans, a light gray undershirt, what appeared to be a black overcoat- _isn't it called a covert coat? Yeah I think that's... Why do I know that?-_, and some type of formal looking black shoes. His skin was light blue, he was wearing sunglasses, and the ghost had a small goatee. He was lying on Tucker's roof with his hands folded under his head, and paying no attention to Danny.

"Huh," Danny spoke up, looking down at the ghost. "You're new."

"I'm twenty, kid," The ghost replied, giving Danny a side glance. Well, his boots a side glance. "I'm not new."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "I meant here, in Amity Park."

The ghost rolled on his side so that his back was to Danny, "Oh wonderful, I'm in the place with the ghost kid. Great... This is what happens when I go in natural portals."

"Wow, I feel loved." Danny replied, and the ghost tensed. He looked back over at Danny slowly, and then stood up. The ghost seemed confused for a moment before realization appeared behind his shades. Danny floated up a little more so that he could look the ghost in the eyes, "So, would it be too much to ask for you to go away without any trouble or laughing at me...? Because I kind of have homework I should be getting back to, and honestly? I don't really care about you right now."

"So you're the great Danny Phantom..." The ghost frowned, "Somehow I thought you'd be... Taller. And more buff. You're kind of a twig."

"Gee, short jokes, thanks." Danny responded, dryly. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm... Jason." The ghost held out his hand, and Danny looked at it for a moment before grabbing it with his own and shaking it. "Nice to meet you, Phantom."

"...Thanks," _Okay, this is possibly one of the strangest meetings I've ever had with a ghost. _

"Listen, I've got to split. I just wanted to rest for a bit before I met up with Maxie, because Parker's probably going to find us." Jason ended the handshake and pointed behind him, while Danny just stared at the ghost in confusion. "And that'll just be annoying for me, with her weird fascination with redheads, but she'll probably try to murder you. It was nice meeting you, kid! I kind of hope we'll meet again, but not when I'm about to be mauled by a ghost who really likes me... And mazes, for some reason. I'm rambling, sorry... Bye, kid!" The ghost dissolved into a mist, leaving Danny staring where he had been for a few moments.

"You know what? I don't think I want to know." With that, Danny went back through the roof, and back to his friends, who were sitting on the ground with their homework in front of them.

"Danny!" Sam gasped as he entered, placing a hand over her chest as Tucker fell onto his back.

"Dude, you scared me!" Tucker said, pushing himself back up. "... Huh. This is so reverse karma."

"...Yeah, whatever. Still not as weird as the ghost I just found." Danny replied, not bothering to change back to his human form. "He was new here or something, and we shook hands. He didn't even laugh at me, and flew off saying something about a Parker and Maxie. And he called me twig."

"Huh, weird. I thought for sure it would be the Box Ghost..." Sam shrugged, "Oh well. Tucker, get your smartphone. If we're going to do the thing, we're using a number they won't know. It'll only take a minute to get the app."

"Wait, what thing?" Danny asked as Tucker smirked, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a touch phone, and handed it to Sam. "Wait, when did you get a new phone? Guys, what thing?"

"Tucker, password." Sam stated, and Tucker leaned over. He pulled the phone towards him, pressed the screen a few times, and then handed it back to Sam. "...Your password was 'qwerty', wasn't it?"

"...No..." Tucker replied, holding up his hands in an 'innocent' matter.

Sam shook her head, "It so was. Really Tucker? That's worse than Danny's."

"For the record, I've changed my password." Danny spoke up, though there was no way he'd tell them what he'd changed it too. "Anyway, what thing?!"

"Tucker's plan," Sam simply stated, "He explained it while you were off making friends, and I say it works so we're doing it."

"Wonderful," Danny spoke dryly, "Also Jason is not my friend, and if anything I think he's a fanboy. So, are you going to tell me about this plan, or...?"

"Nope," Tucker replied, popping the 'P'. "It'll be better if your reaction's genuine. So you just think up a message about truth and lies while Sam sets up a skype app on my phone so we can call your mom on a different number so that they don't connect Danny Phantom to us."

"...If they find out my secret because of this, I swear Tucker that I will hurt you. Plus your plans never turn out well for me."

Sam glanced up from Tucker's phone at Danny's comment before shaking her head and handing Danny the phone. She stood up, a text book in hand, and Tucker did too. She handed him the book, and then looked down at the confused Danny. "Make it quick, we still need to get at least some of our homework done and patrol. Just dial the number to your house, and don't question why Tucker's holding a textbook."

Danny shot a partly fearful glance at his best friend before doing what the other had instructed. He dialed the Fenton Works number, heard it ring twice, and then, "Fenton Works, Jack Fenton speaking! How can I help you?"

_Oh great, it's my dad._

"Uh, um," Danny stumbled over his words, "Is... Is Maddie Fenton there?"

"Oh, sorry kid!" Jack replied, "She just left! Is... Is there anything I can help you with?"

Danny shot a glance at Sam and Tucker in a silent plea for help, but all he got was Tucker making a motion for him to go on while Sam slowly opened the bedroom's door.

Danny made his voice quieter- he didn't know if Tucker's parents were home, and in all honesty he didn't want to find out now that the door was open. "I... I guess, but I have to be quick." He licked his lips, one hand making its way up to rub the back of his neck. _What do I say what do I say what do I say?! _"Uh... There's... More to the truth than you realize, and... And more lies hidden in it than you can see." _I think that works. Kind of, probably not. _"And... Even if something's true, that doesn't mean it is all truth."

"...Who is this?" There was a short pause before Jack asked that, and Danny didn't get a chance to answer.

Because not even a second after, Tucker dropped the text book on a vent, causing a loud crash and rattle, while at the same time Sam slammed the door hard enough that a picture fell off of Tucker's wall.

But what got Danny was a low voice, that didn't match the one of either of his friends', shouting "Hey!" as he dropped the phone in surprise.

Danny gave a yelp of surprise, jumping to his feet and turning invisible for a moment. But while he was invisible, someone grabbed his arm.

"Hey, let go of me!" He called, and pulled his arm away. He realized it was Sam as he became visible, and Tucker bent down to pick up the phone.

"Relax dude, it's just..." Tucker paused to clear his throat, and the odd low voice he had been speaking in was replaced by his normal one as soon as he had. "...It's just us." With that, he hung up the phone. "It's a pity you didn't blow something up, dude, but that was still an awesome reaction. We got what we needed from it."

"Darn it, Tucker," Danny crossed his arms, "You scared me half to death! What was the point of that?!"

"His plan," Sam replied, placing a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Are you okay, Danny? You should probably change back to your human form, and we'll explain."

Danny waited a couple seconds before doing just that, and then taking a few steps so that he was beside Tucker. He may have used some of his ghostly strength as he reached over and hit his friend on the back of the head.

"Ow! Hey, Danny!"

"Tucker, I don't know what that was supposed to do besides confuse my dad, but we are _never_ doing it again. And you are never doing that low voice again."

"Give me a break, dude," Tucker shrugged, "I had to cough."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Vlad was honestly confused.

He'd expected Daniel to have collected an army and stormed his mayoral office or his house at least once by now. But no, he hadn't. He hadn't been at either.

Daniel hadn't even said a word to him since the press conference where Vlad had directed him to the online recording of it. The news crews barely caught sight of Daniel anymore; when he fought ghosts, he seemed to be doing his best to avoid any cameras. And when he couldn't, he all but refused to speak to the ghosts, in what Vlad could only assume was fear that he would mess up again.

It was rather entertaining, as the game was in many points in his favor. But that didn't change the fact that Daniel had been too quiet about it all.

He had to be planning something. That was the only explanation. But what?

His musings were cut off as his personal phone rang, the caller ID showing the number for Fenton Works.

_...I could ignore it, but what if it's Maddie seeking comfort from everything? A small chance, but a chance nonetheless._

He answered it with, "Vladimir Masters speaking." As he always did.

The person on the other end replied with a cheerful, "Vladdie!"

_Oh, wonderful. It's Jack._

"Jack, I am terribly busy," Vlad replied, slowly so that the oaf would understand. "Can't this wait?"

Jack's voice was, oddly enough because Vlad didn't think he had ever heard the man speak in such a way, serious. "No, it can't. Maddie's not here and I need a second opinion."

_Jack Fenton? Serious? I didn't know it was possible. _"Well then, could you make it quick?" _I want to hear this. Anything used to make Jack Fenton sound like this could be wonderful for convincing Maddie to leave him for me._

"As quick as I can," Jack promised, sounding more like himself. "Thanks, V-man! Okay, I have a recording device on the home phone so that if someone calls about a ghost or something we have it on record, right? I'm going to play you back a recording from it, and I want you to tell me what you think is happening, okay? Oh, and keep this between us, okay?"

"Oh, of course," Vlad replied, pressing a button on the computer in front of him so that it would record audio and placing his phone on speaker. _Oh, how childish, it appears I had my fingers crossed._

"Right, here it is!" Jack called, and there was a click before the recording started playing.

"_Fenton Works, Jack Fenton speaking! How can I help you?"_

"_Uh, um, is Maddie Fenton there?"_

Vlad's eyes widened, that was Daniel's voice! How could Jack not have recognized it?! Judging by the faint echo with it, he was in his ghost form, but that wasn't enough to disguise his voice. _Daniel, what are you doing?_

"_Oh, sorry, kid! She just left! Is... Is there anything I can help you with?"_

There was a pause, something that sounded like a creaky door opening in the background, and then Daniel's voice was quieter, _"I... I guess, but I have to be quick."_ Once again, Vlad found himself wondering exactly what Daniel was trying to imply. There was a bit of a pause before Daniel spoke again, _"Uh... There's... More to the truth than you realize, and... And more lies hidden in it than you can see. And... Even if something's true, that doesn't mean it is all truth." _

Vlad blinked twice, _Daniel... What?_

There was a short pause before Jack asked, _"...Who is this?"_

Vlad tuned into his advanced ghostly senses so that he'd be able to better hear what the younger hybrid said. Instead he ended up nearly falling out of his chair as there was a loud crash, thump, the sound of glass breaking in the background, and a low voice saying _"Hey!"_

Vlad sat up in his chair as Daniel gave a yelp of surprise. His voice sounded less quiet and more so far away as he called, _"Hey, let go of me!"_

"_Relax dude, it's just..." _There was the sound of someone clearing their throat, and the low voice which had apparently startled both hybrids was replaced with the voice of Daniel's friend, _"It's just us."_

With that, the call was ended. Vlad turned off the recording function on his computer and picked up the phone. "Jack, what exactly was that?"

"...I don't think I know," Jack replied, "I kind of think it was the ghost kid, you know? Because of the echo and all that." _Oh, so he did realize it was Daniel._ "But I don't get why he'd call me."

"Maddie," Vlad corrected, "He wanted to talk to your wife." _That probably means what he said had some underlying meaning that he was hoping his mother would catch onto. But what? And why risk his secret like that?_

"Oh, right," Jack replied, "So what do you think was going on there?"

"Personally? It was probably a prank call," Vlad replied nonchalantly, "It may have even been done by the ghost child. You know how ghosts are such mischievous beings. Perhaps his human allies walked it on it and spooked him. Personally, I'd focus more so on the voice of the human boy. If you figure out who he is, you could figure out which humans that Phantom has under his influence." _Ah, nothing like separating Daniel from his friends to bring him closer to the only other being truly like him; me._

_I may not understand your move to the fullest extent, dear boy, but you've made one. And now it's my turn._

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danielle hated being lost.

Danny was in danger, and she didn't have a clue where she was. Only that it was in some random town.

_Darn it, this is not how I wanted my rescue mission to go!_

She flew down to the town, and landed behind a building. She'd have to find a map; that would be good. Or something she could ride on that was going to Amity Park; even though she was stabilized now, flying for a long time could cause her to accidentally turn human. And that could end badly.

_Food might be good, too... Okay, I'll find food and directions. Or a ride, a ride might be good._

_I'm coming, Danny! I just need to figure out where I'm going first!_

* * *

Background characters and serious Jack are my weaknesses, sue me. Then again, I don't think Jay counts as a background character… Oh well, he probably won't become important.

Probably. You can't really trust me with these things.

Anyway, school's starting on Tuesday for me- cue the mediocre yay- so updates will probably only be a little bit faster than this. Well, I'm going to hope it won't take me a month to write my minimal chapter length. Which this chapter passed, by the way. It's around 4000 words and there's no good part to cut it so enjoy the long chapter.

As always, votes for the misleading poll and reviews are loved, but if any of those reviews turn into flames I'm selling them to Clockwork. Because it's official, check the reviews for yourself; he does not approve of my story direction.


	6. Chapter 6: Sisters and Speed Bumps

Meh, the speed bump comment was funnier in my head. As was the being bleeped by reality...

In other news; welcome to stuff I did on a Google Docs Livestream! Because apparently that gave me work ethic, though I think at the most there were only three people there… Oh well.

Thanks to hidden-page (I only know their Tumblr name so that's what it is) for doing some editing on this as I wrote it!

Anyways, Danielle shows up in this chapter! Also Vlad is fired from the Godfather business, mostly for the speed bump comment. Which I _might _have stolen from a girl who goes to my school. Blame her; she's the one who said badgers make good speed bumps by me and my Danny Phantom obsession.

Onwards!

* * *

**Chapter 6;**

The next day, right after the late bell had rang for their first class, Sam and Tucker sat at their desks. Danny, however, did not.

"Mr. Foley," Lancer, who of course was their teacher, spoke up. "Do you know where your friend is?"

Tucker shrugged, and Sam slumped in her chair. _Come on, Danny, you've been going so well, don't miss class today..._ "He probably slept in, Mr. Lancer. He'll be here soon."

Mr. Lancer shook his head and marked down what Sam could only assume was another absent. _Come on, Danny, where are you..._

"Well, let's begin the lesson, shall we?" Lancer sighed, "Everyone, take out your books, we'll-"

He didn't get a chance to finish before a black and white intangible shape was thrown through the window. He turned tangible as he hit the wall, creating a nice Danny-shaped dent as he did so, before sliding down that wall.

The entire room was silent for a few moments as Danny slouched forward, Sam and Tucker grabbing onto each other to prevent themselves from running over to check on their friend.

_Come on Danny, get up. Get up, Danny, come on... It's a good thing Paulina isn't in this class... Get up, Danny, get up..._

From the direction of Valerie, a voice stage-whispered "Phantom!" and a pencil was thrown, hitting Danny's ear. The hybrid lifted his head a second later, looking around the classroom for a moment before lifting a hand to rub the back of his head. He pulled it away and held in front of him, made an annoyed face at his palm, and then looked up.

Sam met his eyes and mouthed, 'Are you okay?'

Danny nodded, standing up and letting his hand fall back to his side. "Sorry, er-" He cleared his throat, making it sound lower. "Sorry about that, citizens!" He floated up, looking around. "Was anyone injured?"

No one replied, and then Tucker coughed. "Uh, shouldn't you be fighting a ghost or something?"

"Of course, I was just checking to make sure you all were all right." Danny replied, and gave a small bow. "Sorry about that!" He looked more serious as he turned intangible and flew out, leave Sam and Tucker to breathe sighs of relief.

Lancer, on the other hand, shook his head and sighed with exasperation. "Now that Mr. Phantom has left, shall we-"

"Oh my gosh!" A student named Haley Quinn shouted, pointing to the window. "Danny Phantom's training with his Godfather!"

"What?!" Sam and Tucker both shouted, and they along with several other students all pushed their way towards the windows despite Lancer's protests.

The two were making their way towards the ground, and Sam slowly reached forward to open the window.

Once she had, it was a lot easier to hear the hybrid's banter as the circled each. Well, at least Danny's reply of, "I'm wary of what's in it, there's a difference!"

"Please, Daniel," Vlad shook his head, "Quit denying it. You and I both know you just said you were afraid of the dark."

"I didn't say that! I said I was wary of what's in it!" Danny sent a blast of ectoplasm towards Vlad, which the older hybrid dodged. "Come on, Plasmius, get your ears checked!"

"My hearing is superb, Daniel." Vlad replied, sending his own blast towards Danny, who blocked it with a shield. "Why would I ever need to do such a thing?"

"Really? I never would've guessed, considering that you still call me all those stupid names even though I've told you to stop." Danny held up a fist and put up a finger as he said each name. "Son, dear boy, Daniel, Little Badger..." He shot Vlad with a blast of ectoplasm, "And any other ones that are too stupid for me to remember!"

"Hm, perhaps Little Badger does need to be changed." Vlad acknowledged, "I recently heard a colleague say that badgers make good speed bumps."

Sam wished Danny didn't have his back to her, because there was a good thirty seconds of him just staring at Vlad and probably making one of the most amusing faces possible.

"Did... Did Plasmius just threaten to run Phantom over?" Dash asked, and Sam frowned.

"I... I think he did." She replied, and Danny put his hands in the air.

"Nope," He said, taking a few steps back. "Nope, nope, nope nope nope nope nope. This is getting ridiculous and I have somewhere to be, so_ nope._"

"Daniel, stop. This isn't finished." Vlad took a step towards Danny, and Danny replied by shooting him with a blast of ectoplasm.

"Yeah, yeah it is. I've dealt with this enough for one day." He floated into the air, "Why don't you go home to your cat?"

"I don't have a cat."

"Then get one and stop chasing a teenage boy around. It's creepy."

From somewhere beside Sam, a voice said, "Oh, burn!"

The class watched both hybrids fly off before Lancer called the students back to their seats, and five minutes later, Danny entered the classroom.

"I'll mark you down for detention after school," That was all Lancer said, and Danny gave an awkward smile as he rushed to his spot.

"What was that all about?" Tucker quietly asked before Sam got a chance to, and Danny shrugged before replying in the same low tone.

"Besides the fact that I think he threatened to kill me? Not a clue." He sat down in his chair, "He didn't even give the 'join me' speech. He's planning something."

"Well, he can't beat my plan." Tucker smirked, and Sam rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, and your plan is completely a good thing for us." She replied, and Tucker's reply was cut off as Lancer cleared his throat.

"Miss Manson, Mr. Foley," He spoke up, "I don't suppose you'd like to join your friend in detention?"

Sam and Tucker glanced towards Danny, who shook his head, before replying with thumbs up.

"Sure," Tucker smiled, "Why not? It's not like we have plans."

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Well," Tucker spoke up as soon as the trio was free. "That was boring."

"No, really?" Danny deadpanned. "Seriously guys, why did you do that? Am I ever going to get an answer for that?"

"Probably not," Sam shrugged, "I'm not exactly sure why we agreed. I blame Tucker."

"Hey!"

"Guys, really?" Danny shook his head, but there was a smile on his face. "Ca-" Whatever he was going to say was cut off as a cool breath of air drifted from his mouth. "Oh boy, I wonder who it is this time?"

"Danny, wait." Tucker reached into his backpack and pulled out three pairs of Fenton Phones. "I think we need to start wearing these again."

"Guys," Danny groaned, but took one nonetheless. "I'll be right back." He ducked behind some dumpsters, and called forth his ghost side.

He shot into the air moments later, and looked around for who it could be. He was honestly disappointed by what he found.

"Box Ghost? Ugh, seriously?"

"Beware!" The ghost shouted, waving his hands in a 'frightening' manner. "I am the Box Ghost! Master of all things cardboard and square!"

"And I'm the master of not caring about that. Get a new intro." Danny replied, shooting the ghost with a blast of ectoplasm. He pulled out the thermos and sucked the Box Ghost in.

_Well, that was quick. Then again, it was the Box Ghost..._

"Goth-one to Clueless-one, come in Clueless-one." Danny rolled his eyes, and pressed a button on the Fenton Phone as Sam's voice rang from it.

"This is Clueless-one, requesting a name change. Seriously, I don't get it, why am I Clueless-one?"

It was Tucker's voice who replied, complete with an 'evil laugh' at the end, "And if Sam has her way, you never will!"

"Was a challenge to an evil-laugh-off?" Danny smirked, "Because I can gladly provide one."

"Don't you dare!" Tucker sounded alarmed, to say the least. "Dude, yours could make babies cry."

"Babies cry over everything," Sam pointed out, and Danny nodded before remembering they couldn't see him.

"She has a point."

And somewhere behind him, Danny heard a garbage can fall over. _Wait, what?_

"Danny!" Suddenly, from the opposite direction, he felt somebody throw their arms around him.

It took a moment, but then he smiled. "Dani! I haven't seen you for a while; how are you?"

His clone was in her ghost form, and she refused to reply or let go of him

"Dani? Danielle, can you let go?"

"No."

"Okay and why is that...?"

"Because I need to be sure you're okay."

"By hugging me to death...?"

Danielle looked up towards Danny, "...No. Not like that. I just need to be sure you're okay. Because I don't think you're okay."

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Danny asked, lowering both of them towards the ground.

Danielle's reply seemed to be the simplest thing in the world; "Because you called him Dad."

"...Oh. Yeah, that." Danny rubbed the back of his neck and pulled Danielle off of him. "You see, that's a funny story. Well, not for me, but everyone else seems to enjoy it. You see, I _might _have said his name wrong."

"You... What?"

"I said his name with a D instead of a V."

Danielle blinked twice before a snicker escaped her lips, and soon, she was bent over laughing. "You said his name wrong?!" She laughed, "I flew all the way here because you _said his name wrong?!_ Oh my gosh, Danny... The only thing you need rescuing from is your own stupidity!"

"Hey!" Danny protested, crossing his arms. "Why would I need rescuing anyway? And I'm not stupid!"

"Really? Because you've gotten yourself into the _stupidest _mess I've ever seen!" Danielle was rolling on the ground laughing now, and Danny rolled his eyes.

"It's not that funny!"

"Yes, it is!" Danielle replied, "I was terrified for you! I thought you'd gone crazy like him! And now it turns out you haven't... And just did something like that... It's hilarious!"

A little ways in the opposite direction, something else fell over. Danny turned back to look at it, and frowned.

It was the reporter- weatherman, whatever he was- that had first announced Vlad being his 'father' and his cameraman. Both stopped, stared at Danny, and then Danny bent down to whisper into Danielle's ear. "Well, you're about to join in on the hilarity."

"Huh, what?" She asked, and turned back to face the reporter. Her eyes widened, and the Danny placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Attention Amity Park!" He called, mostly towards the reporter and cameraman. "This is Danielle, or Dani-with-an-i Phantom. She is my little sister."

"Wait, what?" Danielle looked up at him, and frowned. "Oh no, you did not just-"

"Have fun with the news crews, sis." Danny replied, flying off. Danielle followed behind him moments later, looking anything but pleased.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Sam and Tucker looked over at each other, both frowning.

"Did he just do what I think he just did?" Sam asked, and Tucker shrugged.

"Depends. Are you thinking he just made the plan a lot more complex, put himself and his cousin in danger, lied to the media, and made himself look kind of like a jerk in the process?"

"Pretty much."

"In that case, yes."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny landed in a park and hid in a tree. There were moments when he was thankful for his intangibility, and this was one of them.

Danielle landed a little ways away a few seconds later, ectoplasm coating her hands. "Danny, that was not cool! That was bad, that was very bad! Why did you do that?!"

"Well, I always assumed going into overprotective mode then laughing at the other person's misfortune was a family thing." Danny replied from inside his tree.

"We were family! Cousins! Why'd you have to change it?!" She looked away for a moment, "Not that I'm complaining..."

"...I'm not sure," Danny confessed, "It was just the first thing I thought of, and it fit... Besides, I've always wanted a younger sibling. And I think siblings are closer than cousins, so... I wasn't really lying. I guess, in the end, we're more like siblings than cousins... I think; I barely passed science so I don't know what I'm saying."

"Danny," Danielle replied, looking towards the tree beside his. "I... I like you as a cousin. But I think twins are like clones. Twins are siblings. So, I... I guess we can be siblings. I'd... I'd like a brother. I... I don't have my old ones anymore..." She looked down, and Danny phased out of his tree.

"Danielle, I'm... I'm really sorry about that."

"It's okay, I'm... Over it." Danielle replied, and Danny stepped forward. He put his hands on her shoulders for a few moments before pulling her into a hug.

"Aw, cute, they had a moment." Tucker spoke up from the Fenton Phone.

"Yeah, and as cute as it is, there's a bit of a problem there." Sam spoke up, "I'm pretty sure you told everyone- including us, by the way- that you were cousins. And that also includes, oh, I don't know... Valerie."

Danny and Danielle were both silent for a moment before Danny muttered, "Crud."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Valerie, about an hour and a half later, stared at the TV in front of her.

Danny Phantom had just said that Dani Phantom, the half-ghost-half-girl, was his sister.

She left the fact that she could clearly remember them saying they were cousins alone for the time being, and focused on what their claim would mean.

If they were siblings, Phantom would be a half-ghost-half-boy. And since their ghost forms looked so much alike, it made sense that their human forms would too.

And Dani's human form looked a lot like...

_No! Don't go there, Val! Danny Fenton is not Danny Phantom! He can't be!_

She stared at the TV for a little longer before she whispered, "What is this? What the f-" She was cut off by a car horn. Valerie looked around with a confused expression before turning back to the TV and frowning.

_...I just got bleeped by reality._

.-.-.-.-.-.

Jazz, once again, found herself watching the news in confusion.

_Who's that little girl? I don't think I know her. How can she be Danny's sibling? Did he mess up again?_

"See, Mads?" Jack said, motioning towards their TV. "Told you!"

Jazz stood up, deciding she didn't really want to know what her parents were talking about. She hurried upstairs, only to run into her little brother stealing pajamas from her room.

"...Do I want to know?" She asked, "Oh wait, yes I do. Why are you stealing my pajamas and why do we apparently have a little sister I don't know about?"

"...Because Danielle?" Danny replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"...Yeah, I don't know who that is." Jazz crossed her arms, "Start explaining, Danny. I'm supposed to be part of your team! Who's Danielle?"

"Danny?" The door of Danny's room creaked open, and someone who looked like a younger female him poked their head out. "How many pillows- oh," She smiled at Jazz. "Hi. Are you Jazz?"

"Danny?" Jazz asked, looking at her brother. "Who is that? Why do you have a little girl in your room?"

"Oh, that's Danielle." Danny replied, motioning for the girl to come towards them. "Uh... Would you believe me if I said she was another Halfa who's homeless but travels around and who looks a lot like me in both her forms for a reason that in no way involves cloning so we were saying that we were cousins and today we randomly just decided that we were going to be siblings?" He took a breath and smiled 'innocently', and Jazz looked down at the younger girl.

There was a moment of silence before Jazz threw her arms around Danielle, "Aww, she's so precious! She kind of looks like you, back when you were cute!"

Danielle snickered as Danny replied, "Hey!"

"She's going to sleep in my room tonight, okay?" Jazz spoke up, pulling out of the hug. "It'll be like a slumber party!" She looked down at Danielle, "You know what those are, right?"

Danielle shook her head, "How do you party when you're sleeping?"

"See?" Jazz replied, "She's precious! Why didn't you tell me about her?"

"Uh, it never came up?" Danny shrugged, handing Jazz back her pajamas. "You two can go... Do each other's hair or whatever girls do at slumber parties."

"Oh, that's a good idea!" Jazz replied, and placed a hand on the younger girl's hair before frowning. "Though, we might need to brush it first."

"Oh no, nope," Danielle looked up at Jazz, "I'm good with the sleeping party, but _no brushing my hair._ I haven't brushed it since I lived with my father and I don't plan on brushing it anytime soon."

Danny frowned, and Jazz gave him an odd look. "Okay... Well, this'll be a nice party anyways! Goodnight, Danny!"

"It's like six in the evening!" Danny replied, watching his 'sisters' enter Jazz's room.

They didn't reply, and Danny retreated to his own room. When he came out a few hours later, he could hear loud giggling and saw a 'No Boys Allowed' sign on Jazz's door.

In spite of everything, he found himself smiling. _Danielle has a family now, and she'll be safe with us, because neither me nor Jazz will ever let anyone hurt her. Plasmius, I don't care what you do. I think this wins._

* * *

Aw, bonding!

…A poor attempt at bonding but aw, bonding!

So, in this chapter we also have the first 'I Think My Reviewers Are Psychic' award, or the ITMRAP! Currently there's at least two more of these… Anyway, AwesomeDragonGirl wins this award because she predicted that Danny would tell the media that Danielle's his sister! Congratulations, and as a complimentary prize, you also get a badger and a speed bump!

…As you can tell, I am very amused by the 'badgers make good speed bumps' thing.

Follows, favorites, extra scenes, votes for the misleading poll, and reviews are all loved! But if any of those reviews turn into flames they'll be used to figure out what the heck Vlad is doing!

What, did you think I was going to make a speed bump joke?


	7. Chapter 7: Group Work (Part 1)

/Confetti canon explodes in the background/ All hail my randomly horrible writing. This chapter starts to fail towards the end for a variety of reasons, one of them being the genre. I have so much regret in placing this in the humor genre. Seriously, it's _difficult_ to write humor when I'm not happy.

Then again, there is no way in a million years that I would be serious with this concept. Seriously, its Danny screwing up Vlad's name and them both trying to run with it. Why would that be serious?

So, this chapter kind of developed a mind of its own. I'm not really sure what happened with it, but it's kind of close to what I had planned for it. Sort of. Not really, but kind of.

Anyway, everyone fails, I think Tucker ships Danny and Sam for some reason, and Vlad's planning something! Welcome to Chapter 7!

Onwards!

* * *

**Chapter 7;**

It had taken a while, but Vlad had managed to rework his plan so that Danielle fit in. Unfortunately, that meant he had to pretend to like Daniel's clone.

He had been willing to accept her as a daughter, a while ago. After all, she had ended up as the only one of them besides the perfect clone who was a hybrid...

_No, Vladimir. Do not focus on that; focus on this. I'll need a distraction, but whom? Skulker won't do, not unless I allow him to hunt and skin Daniel... So who else could I pick? _

_...I suppose I could go with him. Though, I will have to run through the plan quite a few times to be sure he understands. And leaves his weapon behind, otherwise that could cause problems._

Standing up, Vlad smoothed out his suit before duplicating. He gave the duplicate some basic instructions, watched it fly off, and then sat back down.

A smirk twitched onto his face, _interesting move saying that mistake is your sibling, Daniel. But you haven't won this little contest of ours yet._

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Sam, Tucker... Dash, Kwan... Rebecca, Mia... Star, Paulina... Alexander, Haley... Danny, Valerie..."

Danny lifted his head as the teacher, Miss Simon, called his and Valerie's names. He looked around the classroom with a confused expression, before turning towards Sam and Tucker. It took a moment before they noticed him, and Tucker handed him a piece of paper which read; _'It's a project; you're supposed to find out all about your partner's family.'_

Danny's mouth formed into an 'O' and he relaxed in his chair, before suddenly sitting up. _A project where we're supposed to figure out about our partner's family?! Oh crud, I'm with Valerie... This is bad, this is bad... She's already close enough to my secret without this!_

Valerie, who was a couple rows in front of him, turned back to smile at him. Danny was sure that his 'smile' in reply was probably the most awkward grimace ever.

"Now, I've managed to pair each of you with somebody I believe you've been fairly close to, whether it's at the current time or in the past," Miss Simon spoke up, "So this project should be fairly easy. You will complete a family tree of your partner, with basic details about their parents, grandparents, and siblings. You will fill out the included form for each family member, and depending on the family status you may need to fill out the form for some of their extended family. And if it comes down to it, perhaps even godparents."

Danny head hit his desk, and he groaned. _I'm so dead... Okay, deader. But I can't walk out on Valerie, that wouldn't be right... _

_...Yep, I'm dead._

Taking notice of their friend's distress, Sam and Tucker's hands shot in the air. Miss Simon was silent for a moment before she said, "I put a lot of thought into making these groups work. I went out of my way make sure this project would already be easy as you were placed with somebody each of you already knew lots about, but not everything. I am not changing your partners."

"But Miss Simon!" Sam argued, "Why can't I work with Danny and Tucker work with Valerie? It still works, and I don't have to be near the stench of meat that follows him!"

"Hey!" Tucker protested, "Well, I won't have to be near your tofu! Seriously here, I think it might be alive."

"I'm not changing the groups," Miss Simon raised an eyebrow, "And I do believe that the two of you were perfectly fine with working together before Ghost Boy there fell asleep on his desk."

"Wait, Ghost Boy?!" Danny sat up, eyes wide. "W-what do you mean by Ghost Boy? I'm not a ghost!"

The classroom was silent for a few moments before students started laughing and Valerie turned back, looking like she was having trouble keeping her face blank. "I think it was a joke with the fact your parents hunt ghosts."

"...Oh," Danny slouched in his chair, "That... That actually makes sense." _Smooth Fenton, real smooth. As if she wasn't close enough, now you go and freak out about that. Wonderful._

_...I really hope Danielle's having better luck at home than I am here._

.-.-.-.-.-.

Maddie frowned as she heard someone moving around on the floor above, looking across the lab towards her husband. "Jack, did you hear something?"

"Hmm... Nope!" Her husband had his typical childish and cheerful smile. "I didn't hear a thing!"

Something fell over the floor above, and Maddie was almost sure she could quietly hear somebody say "Oops."

"What about that?" She pressed, standing up. "I heard something fall."

"Danny's probably home and joking around with his friends, or maybe Jazz got back from the library!" Jack suggested, and Maddie shook her head.

"She usually stays there for hours. Why would she be back early today?"

"I don't know, wasn't she laughing at something late last night?"

Maddie rolled her eyes, "Jack, she already told us she was watching something online and lost track of the time. Never mind, I'll go check it out." She stood up, grabbing an ecto-weapon off the table before making her way up the stairs.

In the kitchen, one of the cupboards was open and a jar of peanut butter had fallen out onto the floor. There was also an open bag of bread, with a butter knife a little ways away.

_It almost looks like somebody tried to make a sandwich and gave up partway through. That's... Odd. And I've told Danny and Jazz to close up the bread bag once they were done with it! Oh well, I'll clean it up later._

Maddie moved nearly silently, checking out that floor before moving upstairs. She stepped over the stair which was three from the top- it creaked- and slowly made her way down the upstairs hallway, stopping by her daughter's room. Maddie frowned as she realized that Jazz's door was open slightly, and her radio was on; playing some song about an angel with a shotgun.

_Why would Jasmine leave her radio on...? Wait, there's somebody in there. And Jazz is still at the library... It must be a ghost. What ghost would be stupid enough to come into my house?_

Tightening her grip in her weapon, Maddie moved to look in through the small bit of space that the door had been opened. Sitting on a pile of blankets beside Jazz's bed was a young girl with white hair, ripping off pieces of bread and placing them in her mouth.

_She looks famil- hold on, that's the ghost boy's 'sister.'_

Maddie didn't hesitate any longer; she kicked the door open, raising her ecto-pistol and firing at the ghost girl. She was hit just as she looked back at Maddie, and was thrown back and hit the wall as a result. The ghost girl let out a shout of panic, a look of- _obviously fake_- pain appeared on her face, and she tried to fly away. Maddie fired again, and the ghost girl shouted again. She tried to escape, but another shot from Maddie stopped the ghost from doing so, and caused her to hit her wrist on Jazz's bedframe.

The ghost girl appeared to take a choked breath in, and Maddie's voice was dangerously low. "You've made a grave mistake entering the house of ghost hunters, you_ putrid_ protoplasm." For a split second it occurred to her that this was someone's child, but she pushed the thoughts away. Who the girl had been wasn't important; they were a ghost now.

But still, Maddie had to suppress her motherly instincts as the little ghost girl looked as if she was about to burst into tears.

She raised her weapon again, but from behind her, somebody with an echoing voice shouted.

"_No, stop!" _

At that, the blast from her weapon was absorbed into a miniature Ghost Portal, which flickered out of existence moments later. Two ghosts materialized in front of Phantom's sister; both were male, with light blue skin, and physically about twenty. The shorter was a redhead who was dressed in all black and wore what appeared to be sunglasses, while the taller had a stronger build, wore regular glasses, and was blond.

_...Odd, I've never seen these ghosts before. Are they- focus, Maddie!_

"Jay, get her out of here!" The blond one shouted, and the redhead nodded.

"On it, City Hall once this is over! No second deaths allowed, Maxie!" He shouted, stepping back and grabbing onto the petrified ghost girl's arm. Maddie fired her weapon at the two, only for it to be blocked as the blond ghost- Maxie or whatever he had been called- to hold out a hand and form another small portal. Jay and the ghost girl flickered out of existence as the portal closed, and Maxie stepped into what could be considered a fighting stance.

Maddie fired once again, not expecting her shot to land. Which it didn't; Maxie opened another larger portal, which absorbed her shot, and by the time it had closed the ghost was gone.

Maddie balled her fists and only hesitated for a moment before calling down to Jack, telling him to start up the Fenton RV.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Hanging up her cell phone, Valerie quickly made her way to the front of the school. She had her father's permission, and now all she needed was to see if Danny would be okay with it.

After all, he had to agree that getting this project done as soon as possible was a benefit to the both of them- and the fact that she didn't want to be working on it when her grounding was over was completely irrelevant.

Valerie quickened her pace, pushing open the front doors of the school. A smile twitched onto her face as she noticed, walking a little ways away, Danny and his two friends.

Valerie jumped down a couple steps, running for a few seconds before dropping down to a speed walk.

"Guys, relax," Danny was saying, "I'm not going to mess it up. If it ever comes up, I'll just deflect the question and she'll never figure out I-"

"Who'll never figure what out?" Valerie asked, and mentally smacked herself. _Wow, wonderful timing there, Val!_

Danny, Sam, and Tucker all spun around, Tucker and Sam looking horrified while Danny seemed to be in a fighting stance for a few moments before his eyes widened and he clamped a hand over his mouth. "...How much did you hear?"

"Uh, not much," Valerie raised an eyebrow, "I just got here. I wanted to talk to you about the project we're supposed to work on."

"Oh," The trio relaxed, and Valerie placed one hand on her backpack strap. Danny cleared his throat, his hands falling back to his side. "Okay, what about it?"

"Uh, I was wondering if you wanted to start work on it tonight. It's okay with my dad." Valerie flashed him a smile, and Danny looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging.

"I guess, for a couple hours. Do you want to work on it at the Nasty Burger or...?"

"Oh, no," Valerie shook her head, "I meant at one of our houses."

Danny frowned, looking over at Sam and Tucker. Both of them shrugged, Sam taking on an annoyed look as Danny said. "Sorry, guys. Looks like I'll have to cancel. I'll make it up to you guys later."

"It's okay, dude." Tucker placed a hand on Sam's arm, and she pushed it off while sending Tucker a glare. "We need to work on ours, too. Come on, Sam. Don't maul Danny's ex. I know she's interfering with your plans to woo him but- wait. Shutting up now."

Danny, Sam, and Valerie collectively blushed, and Sam turned her head slightly towards Tucker, who was backing away.

"Here's a suggestion;" She spoke up, "Run."

Once his friends- Tucker could move surprisingly fast when given the proper motivation- were out of sight, Danny gave Valerie an awkward smile.

"Uh, sorry about them. They're really good friends, they just... Have weird moments. And Tucker apparently wants me and Sam to get together..." He trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's okay," Valerie shrugged, "So who's house?"

"...Uh, yours, hopefully," Danny's hand fell back to his side, "My parent have been going crazy since the whole 'Phantom's Dad' thing, and I'm honestly not sure that it's safe to be there."

"...Okay?" Valerie shrugged again, it felt like Danny hadn't told the truth, but she wasn't sure why. Then again, his parents were rather crazy about ghosts. "Mine is like an hour walk away. We'll have to walk and talk."

"Eh, I'm good with that." Danny smiled, though it seemed forced. "It's not like I have plans."

"Was that sarcasm?"

"...I'm not exactly sure." The two started walking, smiling, making jokes, and all around procrastinating on their project.

After about twenty minutes of walking, they finally managed to get to talking about their project. Danny seemed to be dodging some of the questions, or at least attempting to, and Valerie found herself doing the same when questions about 'hobbies' came up.

She had no plans of letting Danny know she was the Red Huntress; none at all. He was too nice, and he'd probably offer to help. There was no way that would end well, even if you left alone that he was scared of ghosts. And he didn't seem like the type who was good at keeping secrets; he'd probably let his parents know who she was. The only advantage out of that situation would be that he'd be able to get her some of his parents' weapons.

"Come on, you have to do _something _in your spare time!" Danny was pressing, "I mean, I play D00M and do movie nights with Sam and Tucker!"

"I already told you, I don't have much spare time to do stuff in." Valerie replied, "Between work and school I rarely get time off; I've had some for a few days recently, but other than that I don't really do much."

"Well, what have you been doing with the time you've had off?"

"Watching TV, mostly," Valerie admitted, "...I've been following the 'Phantom's Dad' news story."

"Geez, has everyone but me, Sam, and Tucker been obsessing over it?" Danny groaned, "Seriously! The guy messed up, Plasmius is being _really_ creepy about it all, and... It's getting too much attention, okay? I... Sorry, I really don't like this situation."

"I can tell," Valerie frowned, "...You don't like anything to do with ghosts, do you?"

"...Well, it depends on the thing." Danny replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, some things about them are kind of cool. Like flight, or Phantom's ice powers. Intangibility and invisibility aren't half bad, either-" He cut off as there was the sound of something crashing down a little ways away, and Danny seemed to breathe out a breath of cold air. His mouth hung open for a few moments before Danny leaned forward, covering his mouth in an extremely exaggerated coughing fit.

"Danny?" Valerie tensed, looking towards where the sound had come from. It was an alleyway, just around the corner and ahead of them. "Are you okay...?"

"Uh, fine!" Danny replied, sounding slightly nervous. "...Hold on, I want to see what fell." He took a few hesitant steps forward and poked his head into the alleyway. "..._No_... Danielle!"

"...What?" Valerie asked, mostly speaking to herself as Danny all but dove into the alleyway. "Danny, wait!"

She dashed in after him, and found herself frozen on the spot for a few moments. Dani Phantom, in her human form, was leaning against a fence and holding onto her arm. She looked as if she was about to burst into tears as Danny kneeled in front of her, pulled off his backpack, and wrapped his arms around her.

"Dani, what happened? Are you okay?" Danny was speaking softly, and for a second, Valerie thought she could see his eyes glow green as his voice sounded more panicked. "Danielle, come on, talk to me! Are you okay?!"

"...No," Danielle replied after a moment, throwing her arms around Danny and taking a few quick and shaking breaths in.

It took Valerie a moment before she realized that the half-ghost-half-girl was hugging the ghost hunters' son.

_...Something isn't right here. And not just the fact that the light is making Danny's eyes look like they're glowing green... How would that work...?_

"For the record, I'm fine!" A voice called with an annoyed tone, and Valerie looked over to see another ghost sit up and rub his head. "Thank you all _so much _for- oh." He pointed to Valerie, "...Pretty sure you're a ghost hunter..." He pointed to Danny, who had turned to face him and honestly looked like he was thinking about re-killing the ghost. "...And you're the son of ghost hunters. ...Well, I'm screwed."

"Dani, stay here. Don't move." Valerie heard Danny mutter, and he came to stand beside her.

Valerie found herself taking a slight step away from him; Danny Fenton actually looked incredibly threatening.

It was almost surreal to see somebody who usually looked so friendly looking like he wanted to rip apart the ghosts molecule by molecule.

"Before anyone melts me," The ghost took a step back, "Please consider the fact that I have a very creepy and overpowered stalker who hates secrets and will probably rip off your limbs if you try to hurt me."

"Really?" Danny replied in monotone, "Oh, I'm terrified. So _very _terrified."

"...Of course you don't like ghosts, of freakin' course," The ghost mumbled, taking a step back before gasping and pointing behind them. "Uh... Look, a vampire!"

Words did not describe how _stupid _Valerie felt for falling for one of the oldest tricks in existence. She mentally slapped herself as she turned back just in time to see the ghost disappear; just as Danny grabbed a fist full of his coat.

"_No_, oh no_._ Danny!" She shouted, and looked back at Danielle. The hybrid was standing, looking at the spot where Danny and the ghost had just disappeared from.

"...W-where did he go?" Danielle's voice was soft, trembling, and she sounded almost as worried as Valerie felt.

Valerie balled her fists, shrugged off of her backpack, and tossed it to Danielle's feet.

Her father had said that she was only allowed to use her ghost hunting suit for emergencies.

Valerie was pretty sure her friend being taken by a ghost counted as an emergency.

She triggered her suit, and looked back to see Danielle floating in her ghost form. "No. Stay here, try not to be seen." She jumped, summoning her jet sled. "I've got a ghost to catch."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny wasn't sure what had happened; one moment he had realized he fallen for a stupid trick and was running to grab onto the ghost who had hurt Danielle, the next he had grabbed onto him and it felt like he'd just fallen from the top of Fenton Works and nearly hit the ground before his powers kicked in. And thanks to how unpredictable his powers used to be, he did know what that felt like.

Danny found himself on a flat roof, somewhere on the outskirts of Amity. The ghost, who he was pretty sure was Jason from a few days before, blinking in surprise and pushing him back. Danny tripped backwards, and found himself falling onto nothing but air.

_Well, that went well._

He quickly went ghost, not bothering to check if there was anyone below him since people almost never seemed to look up in Amity Park unless someone- usually Danny- was being thrown out of the sky at them. He dusted himself off and started to slowly float upwards with his arms crossed, just as Jason looked over the edge of the roof.

"Jason, right?" Danny asked, floating up to the physically older ghost's eye level.

"Phantom! Hi, wonderful to see you, please don't murder or thermos me." He looked past Danny, back at the ground. "Uh, you know Danny Fenton, right? Ghost Hunter's son? Uh, you wouldn't happen to know if he's okay, would you? He kind of, uh, fell. Off the roof."

Danny pointed to himself in confusion, though Jason didn't see, and then shrugged. _Does he not know? ...Okay then... _"He's fine. Kind of annoyed that you just _pushed_ him off a roof, but he's okay."

"Really?" Jason looked back at Danny, smiling. "Wow, that's a relief. I accidentally teleported with the kid, and I panicked... Next thing I knew he was falling off the building."

"That sounds wonderful," Danny deadpanned, inwardly smiling. _I don't think he knows we're the same person. Cool!_

"Sarcasm. Well, that's nice." Jason muttered, and Danny placed a hand behind his back, slowly charging it up with ectoplasm. "Oh, by the way, why exactly was your little look-alike hanging out in the house of ghost hunters?"

"Why were you in a house of ghost hunters? And she's my sister." Danny replied, and Jason shrugged.

"Well, as it turns out, Maxie's portals work just as bad the natural ones. Well, aside from the time travel. There is no way I'll miss that. But yeah, we tried to avoid the ghost hunters and we ended up in their living room. Then we heard something going on upstairs, we went to go check it out, and we saw Maddie firing at her." Danny's eyes widened the ball of ectoplasm that had been forming in his hand dissipating.

"Oh no," He whispered, his voice shaking slightly. No wonder she'd been so terrified!_ I should've known leaving her at home when I'm not there was a bad idea! Why didn't Jazz protect her?!_

_...Wait. Fenton, you idiot! Jazz has been studying up on a bunch of stuff at the library nearly every day for the past few weeks! She wouldn't give up on that, and there's no way Dani would want to go! Stupid, stupid, stupid! This is your fault!_

"Don't worry, Phantom!" Jason looked alarmed, "I got her out! She's okay! A little freaked out, bruised maybe, but I think she's okay!"

Danny relaxed slightly, intentions of attacking the ghost forgotten. "...Thank you."

"No problem, really," Jason smiled, taking a step back. "You can repay me by explaining to Maxie about how being a Halfa works!" He grabbed on to Danny's wrist, and the hybrid's eyes widened.

"Wait, what?!" _I thought he didn't know! I- what? _The next thing Danny knew, the falling-and-nearly-dying sensation happened again, and the scenery changed. "...Are we on the town hall?"

"I sure hope so," Jason shrugged, landing on the roof of the building and letting go of Danny, who floated slowly down beside him. "That's where I was supposed to meet up with Maxie."

_...I don't have a clue who that is. _"So you kidnapped me?" He crossed his arms, "Seriously, what is wrong with you?!"

"I don't know, a lot, probably." Jason shrugged, looking around. "And it wasn't kidnapping; it was hero-borrowing."

"No, I'm pretty sure taking somebody somewhere against their will counts as kidnapping." Danny floated back slightly, narrowing his eyes. "What is up with you? Fenton, Phantom, Halfas... What do you know?"

Jason smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh, rumors, mostly. After I met you a few days ago, I went to tell my friend Maxie. You might know him as Max?" Danny shook his head, and Jason shrugged. "Oh well, he knows you. He freaked out because I'd met 'the Halfa' and asked if I set up a meet-and-greet. And here we are, hopefully he got away from the Fentons."

"...I still say it's kidnapping." Danny frowned, floating back some more. "Seriously, your friend wants to meet me to talk about something that's really none of his business, so you drag me across town?! What is _wrong _with you?! I have enough to deal with without you joining in on it!"

Jason looked confused, "But... I thought...?"

"You're older than me, dude! Can't you at least pretend to have some common sense?!" Danny snapped, his arms falling to his sides and his hands balling into fists. "I have enough problems without you and Maxie or whatever the heck his name is joining in! Seriously, Danielle could be traumatized and instead of helping her I'm here because you're friend wanted to meet me!"

"We just wanted to figure out how a ghost can take a living form, okay?!" Jason suddenly shouted, leaning forwards. "That's all! We wanted to figure out how being a Halfa works so that he can see his girlfriend and I can see my parents, okay?! That's the reason; are you happy?!"

There was a moment of silence before Danny replied, "...What?"

"Wasn't it clear?" Jason removed his sunglasses and attempted to polish them with his coat sleeve. "You're a hybrid; a ghost who can become alive. We want the same."

"A ghost... Who can become alive?" Danny's eyes widened, "I- no! That's backwards! It's the other way; I'm a human who turns into a ghost!" _I'm not dead!_

Jason shook his head, "No, I'm pretty sure my way is ri-"

"Daniel, what are you doing?"

Danny groaned, and looked over his shoulder. "Speaking of problems; for once, wonderful timing Plasmius. This guy doesn't think it's possible to be both human and ghost." Vlad, who was in his ghost form, raised an eyebrow.

"Is that why you're on top of City Hall and causing a scene below?" Vlad shook his head, "I'd expect better, Little Badger."

"Oh, cool," Danny replied, "I get to be a speed bump again."

"I swear it isn't vampire guy!" Jason took a step back, directing the attention of the two hybrids back to him. "It doesn't make any sense for it to be!"

Vlad looked appalled, "Vampire guy?" Danny snorted, lifting a hand to cover his mouth as Vlad moved forwards. "_Vampire _guy?"

Jason stumbled over his words, Vlad looked furious, and Danny was about to fall over laughing. _This is hilarious! Nope to self; call Plasmius a vampire. This is getting good..._

"Danny?"

Danny looked back to see Danielle, and he quickly checked to see if Jason or Vlad had noticed her. They hadn't, and he turned to face her. "Dani, are you okay?" He kept his voice quiet, and Danielle nodded.

"Yeah. I was a little freaked out before, but I'm okay now." She looked around, "Danny, you have to get out of here! Valerie doesn't know where you are, probably, but she'll be here soon!"

Behind him, Danny heard Jason let out a shout and when he looked back, the only one there was Vlad. The older hybrid shrugged before turning to face Danny. "You meet the oddest ghosts, Daniel. I wasn't aware it was possible to find one who- Danielle!"

Danielle landed, and Danny pulled her behind him. "Move one inch towards her Plasmius and I swear it'll be the last thing you'll ever do."

Vlad stopped in mid-step, "Now Daniel, no need to act like that."

"No, I'm pretty sure there's a need. You've tried to murder her," Danny braced himself, "So come closer, I dare you. I can promise it'll be the last thing you ever do."

"Now Daniel, are threats and violence really necessary?"

"Considering that it seems to be the only language you understand, you hypocrite, yes." Vlad opened his mouth to reply, but Danny cut him off. "And before you say a stupid little line about me being like you; I'm not. We look nothing alike, we act nothing alike, and that means I am _nothing_ like you!"

"Daniel," Vlad started to slowly clap, "Considering your skill level that was a nearly satisfactory small speech."

"You can cut it out; I really don't care about your 'compliments.'" He held up his hands to do air quotes around the word _compliments_, ignoring Danielle as she whispered his name_. _"I'm not going to fall for your stupid little manipulation tricks."

"Danny, we have a problem." Danielle had a little more force in her voice and spoke a little louder. "Look to the left. _Now._"

"Wonderful," He groaned, doing as Danielle had instructed. "What- oh. Hi, Val. Uh, nice to see you in your suit...?"

Valerie had one of her ghost weapons out, and looked very determined. "I was looking for that kidnapping ghost, but a chance like this..." Danny could hear the sound of her weapon charging. "This'll work too."

Danny exchanged a look with Vlad, who had also turned to see Valerie, and then with Danielle. After a second, he shouted, "Scatter!"

* * *

...Blah, it's bad. And Dani abandoned everyone's backpacks but blah it's bad.

Well, apparently Jay's becoming recurring and Max's… Probably being chased by the Fenton RV right now. I'm not really sure. I'm also not sure why he's so bad at making portals or why Jay is so wrong about Halfas.

Wait, that's a lie. I am a liar.

Anyway, I think I have a system; each chapter is at least 2000 words, but no more than 5000. Each chapter is also a day long, split into two when it's in danger of passing the word limit or I just really like the ending line. After a two-part chapter, the next day will (most likely) be skipped.

…I'm probably going to throw that system out the window after a bit. Oh well.

Follows, favorites, votes for the Misleading Poll, and reviews even though I somehow have over a hundred of them and aren't sure how that happened are all loved! But if any of those reviews turn to flames, they will suffer Valerie's wrath. Just like the trio of hybrids is likely about to! :D


End file.
